Mistakes
by xxxXXxEllexXXxxx
Summary: Are there too many obstacles that make our past mistakes unfixable or will Gabriella Montez be able to fix the biggest mistake that she ever let herself make when it turns up in her life once more?
1. Chapter 1

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, this is my new story Mistakes, so please read it and tell me what you think of it and whether I should continue it or not!**

**Chapter 1**

He sighed as he nursed the long since cold coffee in his numb hands, wondering how he could do what he was doing. Wondering how the hell he could be going back to that place that held all of the memories, the good ones, and the plain and simply awful ones. Wondering how he could take the most precious thing in his life back to the place where they had both been caused so much pain, even if she was unaware of it.

How could he return to Albuquerque, even if it had been sixteen years, two weeks, three days, three hours and twenty-two minutes exactly since the incident had happened and he had left the city limits of Albuquerque, never to return, or so he had hoped at the time.

Troy Bolton sighed again as he thought back to the fateful day that had been the best and the worst day of his life, the day he lost something irreplaceable, yet gained something possibly even more irreplaceable.

**Flashback – 8****th**** August 2008, 8 am**

**Troy grinned as he walked passed the nurses station and headed straight for a room that his heart had memorised from about half two that morning, the room where both of his beauties were held. Yes, at the tender age of eighteen years old, Troy Bolton was a father, and he couldn't have been more proud of his girlfriend or their little girl, their little wonder, who still needed a name.**

**Grinning still, Troy entered Gabriella's room and instantly saw that she was alone, his parents and her mother having disapproved straight from the start, and all of which refusing to talk to the two teenagers, or come and see their newly born granddaughter, and none of the gang there, as Troy and Gabriella had made the conscious decision not to tell any of them until after the baby had been born, just in case something had happened during the pregnancy, or they had given the baby up for adoption after all, which Troy secretly knew he could never do as he had loved this baby since the minute that Gabriella had told him about her when she was only two months pregnant, and so did Gabriella, or so Troy thought.**

**Troy smiled again as he neared Gabriella's bed and placed his coffee on the table at Gabriella's bedside, seeing her staring at the tiny little baby that was currently peacefully sleeping held in the petite crib.**

"**Hey babe," He murmured quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping baby, and leaned over to kiss her lightly on the lips, but Gabriella turned her head, so that he only caught her cheek, causing him to frown.**

"**What's wrong?" He instantly asked her, concern and worry taking over his entire being at the way that Gabriella was still staring at their little girl, so intently, barely blinking.**

"**Take her," Gabriella suddenly whispered, tearing her gaze away from the baby to look at Troy, her gaze cold and hard, not like the gentle, loving one that he was used to as he opened his mouth in utter shock.**

"**Wh…what?" Troy finally managed to stutter out, his eyes never leaving Gabriella's almost black ones, as shock and horror swept over him, and he felt as though he was going to throw up.**

"**Take her and go," Gabriella stated evenly, never breaking her gaze with Troy, their eyes locked in a silent battle.**

"**Gabriella, what do you mean? She's your daughter! She needs her mother! You love her!" Troy cried out in a desperate attempt to reach the Gabriella that he knew and loved, as he leapt off of the bed, just staring at the cold-hearted woman that had suddenly appeared where his girlfriend should have been, his coffee completely forgotten about on the side table.**

"**No Troy, I don't love her, she's ruined my life, I can't be a mother and go to college, I shouldn't even be a mother, I mean I'm eighteen for G-d's sake! It's just wrong, so if you want the mistake, then take her, but if you don't get her out of my sight in the next five minutes, I am going to sign adoption papers, which I have full right to do as I'm the mother and you and I aren't married," Gabriella spat, sneering slightly at Troy as he watched her in shock.**

"**Gabriella you can't do this! You don't mean that she's ruined your life! Your mother got to you didn't she? Gabriella you, me and the baby are a family, nothing will ever change that, she needs us both, not just me and not just you, we're in this together Gabriella, you can't just leave us," Troy screamed out frantically, trying to change his girlfriend's mind, "You love us," he pleaded quietly, his voice breaking but Gabriella's expression remained hard.**

"**No I don't love you anymore and I definitely do not love her I never have and I never will, she was a mistake, and I should have had an abortion while I could, now take her and get out, or I will sign those papers, I mean it Troy, get that ugly little brat out of my sight, before I do something that I would love to do, but which I'm sure you would hate," Gabriella glared hard at him, before turning her gaze to looking out of the window again, "You two ruined my life but I'm going to get that back."**

**Troy looked at her, open mouthed, the tears silently rolling down his cheeks, as he moved to the crib that held his young daughter, only six hours old, and already without a mother, he gently manoeuvred her into his arms, shushing her gently as she cried softly, Gabriella's gaze momentarily flickering to the pair, before she turned her lip up in disgust and looked back out of the window.**

**Silently, Troy walked out of Gabriella's room, and out of her life, but as soon as he reached the family room, he fell into the nearest seat, and started to weep, for everything that he was losing, but when his little girl started to cry as well, Troy instantly knew what to do, and slowly manoeuvred her so that her head was resting on his shoulder, as he gently rubbed circles onto her back and sang softly to her, breathing a sigh of relief when she calmed down, and he moved her back so that she was lying in his lap, and he was watching her as her chest rose and fell lightly in her deep slumber.**

**He smiled softly, a few tears still falling as he looked at his daughter; caramel coloured skin already showing on her face, although she did have two rosie cheeks, neck and hands, the rest of her body covered in a baby pink piglet sleep suit, her head already a mass of thick dark curls, Troy could already tell that he was going to be fighting the boys' off of her when she reached her teenage years, he smiled sadly and gently stroked her cheek, his smile brightening as her eyes flickered open, and she stared at him with bright blue ocean coloured eyes, the same as his own.**

"**It's just you and me now baby girl," he whispered to her softly, and she blinked sleepily back at him in response, which made him laugh softly. "Oh that's right you still need a name right princess," he grinned and she blinked again, as Troy thought, and about ten minutes later, he had the perfect name for the baby lying on his lap. "Lilly-Ella Anne Bolton," he whispered softly, gently brushing the curls on top of her head. "Your Mommy and I decided a long time ago that if we had a little girl we'd call her Lilly, and I always called your Mommy Ella, so it fits," he smiled again at the baby, as he gently leaned forward to kiss her forehead, before lightly resting his nose on hers and pulling a funny face at her, as she slowly started to drift into another slumber.**

**Troy sighed, thinking of the hard times ahead for him and little Lilly-Ella, as he gently moved her so that he could get her little pink hat on her, without waking her up, and wrapped her in the pink baby blanket, placing her in her car seat, before walking to the nurses station to register her and sign her out of the hospital.**

**Taking one last look at Gabriella's room, Troy turned and walked from the hospital, strapping the baby seat carefully into the back of his truck and driving home to explain to his parents what was going on, not that they would be to thrilled, and then packing up to leave for LA, vowing to never return to Albuquerque ever again, much less take Lilly-Ella back there.**

**End Flashback**

"Daddy?" a voice questioned behind him and Troy jumped, turning around to see his sixteen year old daughter standing behind him, grinning a grin that she could only have inherited from her Mother, everything but her eyes being the exact duplicate of his ex-girlfriend, as Troy rolled his eyes slightly and held out his arms, expecting a hug, which Lilly-Ella gladly obliged to, wrapping her arms tightly around her father.

"Ready to go baby girl?" Troy asked her softly, having never gotten out of the habit of calling her that, kissing the top of her head as he felt Lilly-Ella nod and mumble something into his chest, which made him chuckle softly, as his daughter pulled away and studied her thirty four year old father with her own sapphire blue orbs, shrugging slightly and grabbing the apple that he had left out for her.

"What was that look and the shrug for?" Troy asked suspiciously, as he washed out his mug and placed it in the box of essentials that the movers had left, taking everything else with them earlier that morning.

"Eh, you'll do," Lilly-Ella laughed, her eyes twinkling, as Troy raised his eyebrows, noticing not for the first time just how much like Gabriella that Lilly-Ella was.

"Dad, hellooooo," Lilly-Ella whistled, waving a hand in front of a zoned out Troy's face. "Awww well, I'm just going to have to go and raid the safe that he has obviously left full," she grinned and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Hold it, freeze!" Troy called, running after his daughter, finally realising what she had said, "How did you know about the safe? And more importantly, how do you know the lock combination?"

Lilly-Ella just turned around, grinning, "Well when you're captain of the LA Lakers for the past ten years, and were on the team for five and a half years before that, you're gonna have one somewhere, and it doesn't take a genius to work out the code when you used my birthday Dad," She smirked as she looked at Troy, rolling her eyes only slightly, having also inherited Gabriella's intellect.

"Yeah, well you're a genius anyway," Troy muttered, still bug eyed from how much his daughter knew, as she shrugged modestly, "Anyway, you get the box left in the kitchen, and I'll deal with the safe, just go out and wait in the car," he ordered and laughed as Lilly-Ella saluted him and walked back into the kitchen, still munching on her apple.

"Are you gonna miss this place?" Troy asked turning to Lilly-Ella slightly, as they pulled out of the driveway of what had been their home since she was only six years old.

Lilly-Ella shrugged slightly, turning in her seat to face her Dad, "I suppose, but that's only cause it's the only place that I've ever known, other than the apartment, can't say that I'm gonna miss kids calling me freaky math girl anymore, I just hope that they won't at East High, what about you Dad?" She glanced back up at her father, who had always hated the fact that she was bullied slightly at school for her high intelligence.

"Can't say I am Lila," he muttered, using his nickname for her, that no one else under pain of death would dare to use, "I mean I had to play under a false name and the wig and contacts were always itchy," Lilly-Ella giggled, remembering the amount of times that Troy had complained about the wig and the contact lenses that he had used to protect his and her identities. "Albuquerque has always been my home, probably always will be, I just promised myself that I would never return, but I'll be happy to just be Troy Bolton again, rather than Troy Bolton with you, a few friends and my parents and then Parker Smith to the rest of the world," he pulled a face and Lilly-Ella laughed once more, settling back in her seat, and wondering what life in Albuquerque would lead to…


	2. Chapter 2

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks for all of your reviews on the last chapter, anyway here's chapter 2, I hope you like it and please review and tell me what you think!**

**Chapter 2**

Two weeks later, Troy and Lilly-Ella had settled happily into their new home in Albuquerque, Troy almost immediately regretting it as his parents seemed to be around constantly, much to his disgust, and Lilly-Ella's amusement, watching her Dad act and be treated as though he were a small child, but the two oldest Bolton's had moved away to Australia three days ago, so Troy and his daughter were starting to adjust to it just being the two of them again, Lilly-Ella had even come with Troy to meet the reason that the two of them had moved back to Albuquerque in the first place, the University of Albuquerque Redhawks.

After a serious knee injury in the final game of the last season, Troy was now unable to play basketball, but had been offered a job as head coach for the Redhawks, as long as he moved back to the area.

Troy had jumped at it, before realising the final condition, but after many talks with Lilly-Ella, whose decision he respected and listened to fully, after all, it was affecting her life as well as his, the two of them had decided that it was best, so they had packed up their bags and left the comfort of L.A. for the terror and uncertainty of Albuquerque, and Troy could only pray that his ex-girlfriend and ex-friends had all moved far away from the area, after leaving for L.A., he had decided not to contact any of the gang, as he knew that Gabriella would need friends to help her through this, even if she didn't tell them that she and Troy had a child together, or if she made Troy Bolton look like the bad guy.

But two weeks after arriving back in Albuquerque, it was finally time for Troy to meet the team, taking his daughter with him, and he was surprised to find that many of the team were completely in awe of him, not even knowing that he was Parker Smith, but knowing him as Troy Bolton, the one who led the East High Wildcats to back to back championships, of which the team had never even reached the semi-finals since Troy, still known as the Golden Boy to many at East High, had left.

Lilly-Ella found the startled expression on her Dad's face highly entertaining, until her interest was peaked, when she heard two of the players, Joe Danforth and David Cross, talking about how they had apparently known her Dad when they were younger and he was in high school, and how they wanted to know why he left Gabriella, his high school sweetheart. Lilly-Ella did some quick maths in her head, and figured out that her Dad's high school sweetheart must have been her own mother, not actually knowing much about her, as she knew that it upset her Dad to talk about her Mother, and that he was still deeply in love with her, even a fool could have seen that.

Although Lilly-Ella also noticed that when Troy was introduced to these two players, both new twenty year old juniors for the following year, he paled considerably, and the two of them actually looked fairly shocked to see him as well, especially when he introduced a very curious Lilly-Ella to the two of them.

"Troy," Joe and David hissed at the same time, visibly glaring at Troy as he evidently winced at the boys' tone, and Lilly-Ella opened her mouth to speak in her father's defence, especially noticing that everyone else had now left the room, leaving her in the middle of the glaring match, but she was instantly stopped when she heard Troy's voice suddenly jump into the mix.

"Joe, David, the last time I saw you two, you were running around trying to figure out if the bogeyman was real or not," Troy smirked coolly back at the two who immediately grew red, only growing redder still when Lilly-Ella started to giggle quietly.

"What are you doing back here Troy?" Joe demanded harshly, taking charge as the once four year old who had looked up to Troy and begged for his help with basketball skills was now the twenty year old who stood on the same level as Troy and had heard nothing but bad things about the guy since he had left out of the blue.

"Aah I'll take it as you guys have been speaking to Gabriella," Troy muttered, still calm as anything, which started to irritate the two young men, and only served to confuse his daughter even more over who this Gabriella character was. Turning to Lilly-Ella, Troy smiled briefly at her, but she instantly knew that it was fake and raised her eyebrow slightly, "Lilly-Ella can you please go and wait in the car for me, princess?"

"But Daddy-!" Lilly-Ella started to whine, her eyes wide at the thought of leaving her dad alone with these men who she didn't know, yet still looked ready to kill her best friend for some unknown reason.

"Don't argue with me Lila get out of here now," Troy cut her off with a sharp, clipped tone and a serious look that had Lilly-Ella nodding slightly and heading straight for the door.

"I love you Daddy," she smiled slightly at him, as she turned around, one hand on the door ready to flit out of it when Troy returned her smile.

"I love you too, princess, but go on, I'll join you soon, I promise," Troy pulled a face at her and Lilly-Ella giggled slightly before skipping through the door, heading off to the car while Troy turned back towards Joe and David, his face becoming a concrete mask once more.

"So you cheated on Gabriella and had a kid with some whore, and then you just left her?" David sneered, glaring at Troy as Troy's eyebrows raised in surprise, struggling to stop himself from laughing as even Joe looked at David in shock, before rolling his eyes and hitting him over the back of the head.

"Don't be such an idiot David, you're too much like Jason for your own good," Troy laughed, and even Joe had to smile slightly, fighting back the laughter as he watched his older brother's ex-best friend struggle to regain his composure, "Guys, that is Gabriella's daughter, just look at her for G-d's sake, she's her living, breathing duplicate, except for her eyes."

The two younger guys nodded slightly, before their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a minute, you kidnapped yours' and Gabby's child, that's it, I'm phoning the police right now!" Joe yelled, whipping out his cell phone as Troy started to laugh once more and this time David hit Joe over the back of the head.

"Calm down Joe, I didn't kidnap her, personally I would have preferred to keep my entire family together, but Gabriella had other plans," Troy muttered bitterly, and the two young men looked back at him, questions filling their eyes as Troy sighed, "The day that Lilly-Ella was born, Gabriella decided that she wanted nothing to do with her or me, so she threatened me to put our little girl up for adoption, if I didn't take her and leave that very moment, so that's exactly what I did. We hadn't told any of the gang that she was pregnant just in case something went wrong, so none of them knew, and when I left, I figured that Gabriella would need them, so I took off for L.A. a tiny baby in tow," Troy smiled fleetingly at them, tiredness etched around his eyes.

"Oh man, Troy, we're so sorry man, I mean we never knew, only that you and Gabriella weren't together anymore and that she was constantly crying," Joe muttered, grabbing Troy into a guy hug, before releasing him and showing the sincerity in his eyes, before David did the same thing.

"Yeah, well raising a little girl on my own hasn't exactly been a picnic over the last sixteen years, and I've lost track of the amount of times that I've actually threatened Gabriella in my head," Troy sighed, running his hands over his face as one memory stood out vividly and he recounted it to the younger men, who listened with growing horror covering their faces.

**Flashback**

**Troy sighed as he finished piling dishes into the dishwasher, the now twenty four year old wondering what he would get Lilly-Ella for her upcoming sixth birthday the following week, already knowing that one surprise was that they were moving to a much bigger house right outside of L.A. that had a huge garden which she could play in, a swimming pool, play set and high security with big fences surrounding the property included, so Troy would always know that his young daughter was safe and that there was no way that she would be hit by a car accidentally or possibly worse, and it was all thanks to his recent captaincy over the L.A. Lakers, although only he, Lilly-Ella and a few select friends and family members knew that it was Troy Bolton and not Parker Smith who had just earned the captaincy after playing for the team since he was only nineteen years old, as well as single handedly raising his young daughter.**

"**Daddy!" A small voice bellowed and Troy grinned as he turned around to see Lilly-Ella come bounding into the room, her waist length curly hair tied up into a low ponytail, her knee length long denim shorts pushed higher up than they should have been with a baby blue t-shirt on which screamed 'My Daddy loves me' in bright pink writing, surrounded by basketballs and ice cream cones, her blue eyes shining with mischief as she barrelled into Troy's legs and he instantly started to laugh, picking her up and placing a kiss to her forehead before positioning her on the breakfast bar and leaning a hand either side of the five year old as she started to giggle.**

"**What have you been up to today then my little princess?" Troy grinned, resting his forehead against Lilly-Ella's small one as she started to play with the ties on his Lakers hoody, laughing with amusement as she watched the hood of the jumper get smaller or bigger depending on what she did, before raising her eyes to meet Troy's, the two bright shades of blue clashing together almost immediately.**

"**Well I went to the park with Sammy and his Mommy, and then she took us out for ice cream and I had chocolate chip with whipped cream and chocolate sauce and a very, very big cherry on top," Lilly-Ella told him excitedly, stressing the size of the cherry so much that Troy had to laugh softly at the little girl's general wonder and excitement at everything around her, but when he noticed that she had looked down and was avoiding eye contact with him, he immediately became worried as he continued to gaze at his baby girl, who was currently running the material of his hoody through her fingers. "Daddy?" Lilly-Ella asked timidly, and without delay, Troy raised his eyes to meet hers, his heart instantly breaking when he saw that her own were shining with unshed tears. "How come everyone else has a Mommy and I don't?" She questioned almost silently, and Troy closed his eyes, having been dreading this question from the day of her birth.**

**Gently, Troy reached down and picked his daughter up from the breakfast bar, resting her on his hip as he carried her through to their living room, finally sitting himself down on the sofa and pulling Lilly-Ella close to him on his lap as she continued to look at him with big, wide, sad eyes.**

"**Baby girl, you do have a Mommy, she just…left," Troy breathed out quietly, spending a good few minutes searching for the last word before using it, watching Lilly-Ella's reactions the whole time and wincing slightly as she looked down and started to play with her hands, her shoulders slouching slightly.**

"**Oh. But Daddy, why did she leave? Was I a bad girl, or was I not pretty or smart enough?" The five year old cried softly, the tears starting to run down her cheeks as she buried her head into her Dad's chest, still playing with the ties of his hoody.**

**The moment that he had heard those words come tumbling from his little girl's mouth, Troy's blood had started to boil and he had instantly started to curse Gabriella in his mind, although he knew in his heart of hearts that he could never really wish any harm on Gabriella, even after everything, he still loved her, more than anyone in the world except their daughter, who would always hold the special, number one spot in his heart.**

**Gently Troy took hold of his daughter's chin and rose her face so that her eyes met his once again, "Never ever say something like that again Lila, you are the best behaved, prettiest, smartest little girl that I could have ever wished for, Mommy left because of Mommy, not because of you, or anything you did, so never think that baby girl," Troy murmured firmly, resting his forehead against Lilly-Ella's once more, "Besides, I love you Lilly-Ella, and lots of other people love you too, it's your Mommy who's missing out by not knowing such an amazing girl like you all right?" Troy questioned softly, grinning at Lilly-Ella as she smiled slightly back at him, her tears drying up as he gently brushed the remaining few from her face, "Now how about you and I go and mess up the kitchen again and try and make some cookies?"**

**The instant that Troy had finished his sentence, Lilly-Ella had leapt up from his lap and had run into the kitchen, starting to take out the ingredients and yelling for Troy to hurry up, as he just laughed and rolled his eyes, slowly following his daughter into the kitchen, knowing that they were both hopeless cooks and would end up buying a bag of cookies after having dinner out, as had become their tradition over the years.**

**End Flashback**

"G-d, we're sorry Troy," Joe breathed out, his eyes fully widened as Troy just nodded slightly, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah, well, just do me a favour and don't tell the gang or Gabriella that we're back, and please don't treat Gabriella any differently now that you know," Troy murmured, staring straight into the guys' eyes as they nodded slightly, not looking to happy about this promise.

Suddenly, David, the exact duplicate of a younger Jason as Joe was of a younger Chad, was bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly, "Can we meet and get to know Lilly-Ella? Please, Troy, please!" He pleaded, his eyes wide with excitement, a grin covering his features as Joe turned to look at Troy with the same expression covering his features.

Laughing, Troy was reminded once more of the two four year olds that he had once tried to teach basketball to, "Sure guys, come on…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks to those of you that reviewed the last chapter, sorry that I haven't updated this in so long, but hopefully you like it, anyway, here's chapter 3, please read and review!**

**Chapter 3**

"Lilly-Ella, come on, you're gonna be late!" Troy hollered up the stairs as he heard a clattering from above him, knowing that his daughter would be mortified if she was late for her first day at East High.

"I'm ready, I'm ready," She yelled back as she raced down the stairs, straight past Troy and into the kitchen, returning moments later with a piece of toast clutched in one hand and her bag in the other.

"Alright then, let's go," Troy smiled, grabbing his car keys and looking back to see Lilly-Ella nervously shuffling from one foot to the other, "Okay, what's going on?"

"Well, ummm, you see Dad, I kinda already have a lift," Lilly-Ella stuttered out and Troy raised his eyebrows at her.

"What so I'm not cool enough for you anymore?" Troy joked, grinning at his daughter as she giggled and a car horn sounded outside.

"Something like that," Lilly-Ella grinned back cheekily, "But anyway, that's Joe, so I gotta get going." She smiled at him one last time, reaching up to kiss his cheek before darting from the house, yelling over her shoulder as she went, "Love you Daddy!"

Chuckling, Troy smiled after his daughter, "Love you too baby girl, knock 'em dead," he whispered, before turning and heading straight back for his study to try and figure out what he would do with the team in practice that afternoon.

"Hey Joe," Lilly-Ella beamed at the young man that she had become incredibly close to over the last two weeks since she met him, he had already become like a big brother to her, as she jumped into the passenger seat, and he grinned at her, before flooring it as soon as her seat belt was securely fastened, "What you got planned for today?"

Joe shrugged slightly, keeping his eyes on the road as he flew threw another set of green traffic lights, "Nothing much, just training with your Dad, cramming for a bio test that I have last this afternoon and completely forgot about," Lilly-Ella rolled her eyes at his relaxed attitude, but had become accustomed to it over the two weeks when it came to his schoolwork, as the college had started a week earlier than everyone else, much to the disgust of Joe and David, and the amusement of Lilly-Ella, add that to the fact that she had taken the first week of school off to get used to the move, and the two young basketball players were not pleased, "And then, hopefully, I'll be out in time to pick you up from school, if not David will be here," Joe smiled kindly as he turned to Lilly-Ella for the first time since she had got in the car, the two of them now sitting outside of East High, although Lilly-Ella made no movements to leave the safety of the car, only looking up at the big school in front of her, her piercing blue eyes the size of saucers. "Are you nervous, Bubbles?" Joe asked cautiously, turning in his seat to look at Lilly-Ella properly.

Slowly nodding her head, Lilly-Ella smiled at the nickname that Joe had given her nine days ago, after he had walked into his dorm room to find a hysterical David leaning on the wall for support, and a very annoyed looking Lilly-Ella who was dripping from head to toe, bubbles sticking to her everywhere from the water in the sink that now held one of David's basketballs. "I'm really scared Joe, I mean, what if they don't like, what if I become the freaky math girl again? I don't think that I can take it," Lilly-Ella finally looked back up at Joe, tears shining slightly in her eyes.

"Hey, hey Bubbles, what did David and I talk to you about last night," Joe whispered, placing a hand under Lilly-Ella's chin and making her look at him, "Just be yourself kid, nobody can put you wrong for being yourself, don't ever change because someone wants you to Lilly-Ella, cause your special, and everyone who takes the time to get to know you damn well knows that. Plus, if anybody dares say something bad or rude to you, David and I will personally hunt them down and kick the crap out of them," Joe grinned as Lilly-Ella burst out laughing, after watching him for a short while, unsure of where his sudden rush of genius had come from, before she leant over, kissed his cheek softly and ran out of the car, racing up the front steps and into the school as Joe watched, smiling once more before heading back to the college.

Wandering around the school, Lilly-Ella sighed, she was getting more and more confused as she hunted around for the school office, so eventually seeing a man who looked to be about in his thirties, with shaggy blonde hair, not unlike her father's in the style, she wandered up to him, hoping that he was a teacher, even with his eccentric style, she noticed with his sparkly shirt and matching pink hat, "Excuse me, Sir?" She whispered timidly, and he turned around and gave her a smile as she continued softly, "Erm, I'm new here, and I was kind of hoping that you could tell me where the office is because I keep getting lost."

The man smiled at her, "Aah, you must be Miss. Bolton then I presume?" He smiled, his eyes twinkling as though he knew something that she did not when she nodded her head, and he extended his hand to her, "I'm Mr. Evans, one of the drama teachers' around here." He smiled once more at her as he shook her hand, before pointing her in the correct direction to the office, much to her relief and dismay, when she figured out that it was the complete opposite way to where she had been going.

Heading from the office, Lilly-Ella found herself barely able to see over the mountain of books that she had been given, much less see her schedule or her locker number, she suddenly gasped when she felt her foot catch on something, and she felt herself tumbling to the ground, closing her eyes as she waited for the impact, hearing the clattering of her books falling all around her, but unable to feel the cold, hard floor like she should have done by now, instead she felt a pair of warm arms wrapped securely around her, although she stayed in the dipped position.

Slowly opening her eyes, Lilly-Ella found herself staring up at a young man with sandy hair falling over his eyes and the most entrancing golden caramel coloured eyes that she had ever seen. Slowly, he placed her back up onto her feet, and helped her scramble up all of her books and her schedule, before flicking his hair out of his eyes and smiling at her.

"Matt Baker," He smiled, extending his hand to her, as she gently took it, still blushing furiously, embarrassed at herself for tripping over like that already, not even an hour into her first day.

"Aah, poster boy," She smiled, laughing gently when he silently raised his eyebrows at her, "Sorry, it was the first thing I saw when I walked into the school, a huge poster of the basketball team, with you in the middle, anyway, I'm Lilly-Ella Bolton," Her grin widened when she saw him grimace slightly at the reference to the poster, "Anyway, do you happen to know where locker 1224 is? Because I'm completely lost."

He chuckled slightly, and almost instantly, Lilly-Ella found herself entranced by his melodic laughter, "Sure I do, I'll walk you, cause it's right by mine," He smiled again and held his hand out to her, which she eyed up nervously, "Come on, I don't bite," Matt laughed, wiggling his fingers at her as she grasped a hold of them, and the two started up the corridor, each still carrying half of her books each, and unconsciously entwining their fingers together, Lilly-Ella shifting uncomfortably, as she felt the stares of everyone on the pair, and heard them all whispering behind their hands, although Matt never seemed to notice, so she shrugged it off.

"Well, here we are," Matt beamed at her, helping her to put her books into her locker, before smiling once more at her, "Can you find you way to your homeroom from here? Because I've got to head over to the gym for a quick basketball meeting?"

Lilly-Ella smiled slightly and nodded, chewing on her bottom lip, "Yeah, I should be fine," She whispered as he turned away, "Hey Matt?" Matt turned back towards her, his caramel eyes shining at her, "Thanks, for everything."

He grinned at her again before walking off, melting into the crowds as Lilly-Ella sighed and glanced at her schedule, deciding to head for her homeroom now, rather than get lost and have to explain why she was late later.

She smiled, before walking in the door to her homeroom, hoping to appear confident as she walked up to the teacher's desk, although she was quivering internally, "Mrs Danforth?"

The thirty something African-American woman sat at the desk looked up at the nervous young girl and smiled, "You must be Lilly-Ella right?" The young girl nodded her head slightly, her curls flying as she did so, "It's nice to have you in the class, why don't you take a seat, the bell should ring in a few and the last ones should come in…usually from the basketball team," Taylor muttered the last part quietly, but Lilly-Ella heard and giggled quietly, making Taylor beam at the sound of her laughter.

The bell rang moments later as Lilly-Ella sat at the back of the room, trying to memorise her schedule, although the class barely heard the bell as only a moment or so before, eight young men clad in red tracksuits burst into the room, cheering at the top of their lungs.

"What team?" One of them yelled, and the other seven responded almost immediately.

"Wild Cats!"

"What team?" The first one yelled again while the other seven stomped their feet.

"Wildcats!" They screamed back, and Lilly-Ella caught the glowing eyes of the sandy haired player of her earlier run in, neither of them able to keep the grins of their faces, Lilly-Ella's in pure amusement, and Matt's full of excitement.

"Wildcats!" The original one screamed once more.

"Get your head in the game!" Most of the class screamed with them, minus a few who rolled their eyes, and Lilly-Ella, who obviously had no clue as to what was going on.

"Alright boys'," Taylor Danforth chuckled, getting up from her desk, "I know your excited for the start of the season tomorrow, but we have a new student with us today, so please take your seats, so that I can introduce you," Taylor smiled again as they all rushed to their seats, Matt's incidentally being right beside Lilly-Ella's at the back of the room, as he winked at her, "Alright class, like I said, we have a new student, I'd like you to please welcome her, and Lilly-Ella, can you come up here and tell us a little about yourself?"

Reluctantly, Lilly-Ella pushed herself up from her desk, and wandered to the front of the classroom, instantly blushing as a few guys' started to whistle, only to be shut up by glares from Mrs. Danforth and Matt.

"Umm, well I'm Lilly-Ella Bolton, I'm sixteen and I just moved to Albuquerque with my Dad from L.A., and I love to read, run and swim," She finished off bright red as she basically ran back to her seat, glaring at Matt as he chuckled beside her, clapping along with the rest of the class.

Thankfully, her first four classes came and went without much disruption, and she wasn't made to stand up in front of the class again, she had even been in her element when she had had her AP chemistry lesson with Mrs. Danforth first, surprising even Taylor herself when she saw just how much the young sixteen year old knew.

Mercifully though, it was now time for lunch, and Lilly-Ella was in desperate need of a break from meeting new people and new teachers, but much to her dismay, the library was closed, and as far as she was concerned, there was no way that she was going to the cafeteria for lunch, so she just stood outside her locker, chewing her bottom lip nervously, until all that was left in the corridor was herself and a blonde girl, who was chatting away animatedly on her phone, and to Lilly-Ella, it sounded like the girl was whining over something that had not gone her way.

Snapping the phone closed, the girl turned to glare at the wide-eyed Lilly-Ella, "What the hell do you think you're looking at?" She shrieked, "Did you just listen to my conversation?" She hissed at Lilly-Ella, who couldn't think that it was hard not to hear the conversation with the way that the girl had been screaming, but she kept her mouth shut as the girl stalked towards her, "What are you deaf as well? I said were you listening to my conversation?"

"N-n-no," Lilly-Ella finally managed to stutter out, shaking her head furiously as the girl's eyes narrowed and her glare intensified.

"Yeah well then lets keep it that way," She hissed once more, banging roughly into Lilly-Ella's shoulder as she passed, pushing the young girl against the locker.

"Yeah, I'd try to stay away from her if I were you," a voice muttered from behind Lilly-Ella, and she jumped around, one hand on her heart, to find a chuckling Matt standing directly behind her, "They don't call her the ice princess for nothing."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "Well hello again to you too Poster Boy, don't scare me like that again!" She yelled, hitting him over the arm as he continued to laugh, her brow furrowing in confusion, "What do you mean ice princess?"

Matt shrugged slightly, "Her name's Sassy Mitchell, she's the richest person in the school, and boy does she know it, she's cruel, rude, and just plain mean to everyone, she's the president of the drama club, and can get away with murder. The reason that she's like that is that she's spoilt rotten at home, because her parents are never around, she sees them once every six months if she's lucky, she was raised her whole life by nannies, and her parents get her whatever she wants, to make up for their absence in her life," Matt chuckled dryly as he turned and walked away from Lilly-Ella, calling back to her over his shoulder, "She's bad news Star Girl, stay away from her!"

Lilly-Ella smiled slightly at the nickname that he had given her, before picking up her school bag once more, and noticing that there was no one else in the corridors anymore, she headed back for her homeroom class, her arms folded protectively across her chest, and her head down.

"Umm, Mrs Danforth?" Lilly-Ella questioned nervously, standing in the doorway to her homeroom, with one hand raised up to the door in a knocking position as Taylor looked up at her in surprise, "I was wondering, would it be okay if I ate in here today? I mean I don't really make friends easily, and I'll be really quiet, I swear, I'll just do my homework silently, I would go to the library, but it's closed, I'm really sorry to bother you though."

Taylor smiled reassuringly back at the young girl and beckoned her into the room, "It's fine Lilly-Ella, just take a seat, only I hope you don't mind, a friend of mine also has lun-"

Taylor was cut off suddenly by the door bursting back open, a frazzled looking brunette woman rushing in, her almost black curls bouncing on her shoulders as her short sleeved baby blue dress swishing around her knees, "I'm so sorry I'm late Tay, my last class were behaving like raving lunatics! I couldn't even get them to settle down even with bribery of sugar."

Taylor chuckled at her friends panic, and even Lilly-Ella couldn't help the small smile that graced her features as she sat uneasily at the desk in front of Mrs. Danforth's, her AP history book open in front of her, anxiously chewing on her bottom lip.

"Okay, first of all, relax and calm down, all of the students are hyper today, you know that, something to do with the big basketball game tomorrow, and how Matt's going to lead them past the quarter finals later on this year, and hopefully win it for the first time since you know who," Taylor smiled softly at her friend when she saw her timidly start to chew on her lower lip, "And secondly, I want you to meet my new student, this is Lilly-Ella, and actually I believe that she is going to be in your English class next period, so Lilly-Ella, this is your new English teacher, Miss Montez…"

**Well, that was chapter 3, hope that you liked it, please review and tell me what you thought of it, and hopefully chapter 4 should be up within the next week.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thank you to all of you who reviewed Chapter 3, your reviews are much appreciated, and they keep me going, anyway, here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy it, and please read and review!**

**Chapter 4**

Gabriella's P.O.V.

There was something unsettlingly familiar about the new girl in my English class, I had spent the whole of my lunch hour tuning out Taylor's babblings about how Chad wasn't paying any attention to her at all, and how all he now seemed to be bothered about was that the junior, Matt Baker led the Wildcats' to the championships, for the first time since Chad had begun coaching them, almost five years ago now, when Coach Bolton had retired, much to the shock of those around him.

I remembered to agree and disagree with her in all of the right places, but other than that, I kept my mouth closed and my eyes trained on the girl in front of me, watching as she frowned in concentration, her brow furrowing every so often in that oh so familiar way, that I just couldn't place anywhere, and continuously chewing on her lower lip, another trait that seemed distantly familiar to me as I chewed on my own bottom lip. A few times, she looked up, and our eyes locked on each other's, each seemingly studying the others' eyes before one of us would smile and break the eye contact, returning to whatever we were doing.

So now, here I was, sat in front of my A.P. English class, watching my students as they started on their group projects, most of them still huffing and moaning about which group I had set them in, with only one group actually seeming to work well, probably the least expected of all of the groups that I had put together, or at least, I should say that part of the group was working well, and thankfully, that just happened to be the group that my eyes were drawn to, as I desperately tried to figure out where I had seen Lilly-Ella before, and why she seemed like a distant memory to me.

Lilly-Ella and Matt Baker seemed to be getting along famously, the two of them were laughing and joking around with each other, as they got to work on what I assumed was going to be a poster, so that they could share out the work between their group of three, Sassy Mitchell, however, was sat filing her nails, and I'm pretty sure that she had her phone rested on her lap underneath the table.

I rolled my eyes as I realised why this group was drawing my attention so much. They reminded me of a group that I just so happened to be put in when we were working on our group projects for history, during the first semester of our very own junior year. Troy and I were already dating, and had been for a year in the coming January, ignoring the little break that we had taken in the summer, which just so happened to be due to the third member of our group. So while Troy and I had been laughing and starting pen wars, among other things, Sharpay would just sit there, occasionally throwing the pair of us glares, or rolling her eyes at us, all the while texting the other 'sharpettes' under the table, right under the teacher's nose. Thankfully, by the end of the project, the three of us had become great friends, and at least in mine and Sharpay's case, that friendship still existed today. As for Troy, I still don't know where he is, regardless of however many times that I've tried to track him down…Troy, he was still the love of my life, even after his sixteen-year absence from it.

I looked down and started to fiddle with my pen as I thought back to the last time that I had seen him, the eighth of August, two thousand and eight, I would never forget that day as long as I lived, but I would always regret it.

I didn't know it until weeks later, but at the time, I had severe post natal depression, bad enough so that I felt as though my baby girl wasn't even mine, I felt so detached from her that I did the unthinkable, I told Troy to leave my life and take her with him, and now, I'm left with a broken heart, which I know will only ever be healed if I can find the two people that I need to apologise to most in the world, Troy and my baby girl.

My baby girl… I don't really suppose that I can call her that now, she'd have just turned sixteen about six weeks earlier, but I have no idea what Troy called her, so my little girl will have to do, at least until I find her and try to explain.

I think about her and Troy all day, every day, they're never far from my mind, especially as the gang have a horrible habit of bringing Troy up every so often, so that they can sneer and make jibes about him some more, I can't help but cringe every time that I hear them, knowing that I'm the real reason that Troy picked up and left, and that it was because I threatened him and the life that our little girl would live. I will always be eternally grateful to Troy for taking her and leaving, although I'm not too sure he'd feel the same way about me making him leave, because in all honesty, for the first six and a half months after the baby was born, I really did hate her, and I really would have put her up for adoption, due to how wretched I felt, I wasn't myself at all in that time, and even the gang will tell me that, I was continuously crying, and I had raging mood swings, it even got to the point where I wanted to harm myself and others around me, and the gang all still blame Troy for all of that, I'm the only one that knows that truthfully, it was post natal depression, none of them even know that I've ever had a baby, so they blame Troy for leaving, which still leaves me feeling unbelievably guilty, but I'm too terrified of losing all of them as well to tell them the truth behind why he left, so they assume that I do too, even though Ryan never says anything bad against Troy, at least not since roughly the third year after Troy left, for some reason, and he always watches me, almost as though he knows something and he's disappointed in me for not speaking up for Troy when the others' all go off on their hateful rants about him, but that's just my paranoia kicking in once more.

Troy's still the love of my life, and I don't think that that will ever change, I've been on a few dates in the past sixteen years, well really about fourteen and a half years, as my depression took so long to get over, but they were all ones that I had begrudgingly went on, after being set up by someone in the gang, and I had had a miserable time on all of them. I knew for a fact that until I could find Troy and our little girl, his little girl I suppose she really is, considering that I've had nothing to do with her since the day of her birth, bar the countless birthday and Christmas presents and cards that are stored in my loft at home, and beg them for their forgiveness, literally get down on my hands and knees and grovel as they so rightfully deserved, I would never be truly happy again.

"Umm, Miss Montez?" A small voice disturbed me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see Lilly-Ella and Matt standing beside my desk, the rest of my classroom empty, "We just wanted to tell you that the lesson's ended, so the class has left, you seemed pretty deep in thought," She smiled slightly at me.

I smiled weakly back at the pair, "Thank you guys', but you better go now, I don't want you to be late for your next lesson."

"I've got a free," they both muttered simultaneously, before glancing at each other, each of their eyes the size of saucers, each of them bursting into laughter and heading for the open door.

I heard Matt tell Lilly-Ella something along the lines of because it was her first day at East High, she couldn't have much homework yet, so he had to show her a special place during their free period instead.

I watched with a smile as Matt held out his hand to Lilly-Ella and she eyed it up hesitantly, before he murmured something to low for me to hear, with his eyes twinkling, and fingers wriggling, that made Lilly-Ella immediately start to giggle hysterically and take his hand, as he grinned softly at her and dragged her from the room.

I couldn't help but let my grin widen as I figured out where Matt would be taking her, the roof top garden, where Troy and I spent most of our free periods in school, not that we ever actually did much of our homework up there.

A few times over my ten years of working at East High I had wandered up there, but the place held to many memories for me, and I always ended up crying by the time I had made it down the stairs again, the hole in my heart aching for Troy and our little girl, but a few times recently, I had caught Matt up there, often just staring of into space, or running through some of the basketball plays that Chad wanted the team to work on, scaring me slightly at just how much he reminded me of Troy doing the same thing when he had been captain of the Wildcats'. The one thing that I could not bare to look at up there anymore though was the wooden bench where Troy had carved our initials, stating that we'd be together forever, and a naïve, seventeen year old version of myself had just happened to add on the words that still haunted me now if I thought about that bench…_forever and ever and ever, in love_.

Wearily, I stretched slightly, and noticing that my coffee mug was empty, I decided to head on down to the teachers' lounge, and spend my free period marking papers there, rather than have them to do tonight.

Rounding the corner, I stood still silently, as I watched Ryan chatter animatedly on his phone, an amused grin spreading across his face.

"Yes, Troy, I promise you that she's doing fine, she's hitting it off with the captain of the basketball team…No, he's not going to lead her into trouble, he's a good kid, just like you were…Of course I'll keep an eye on them," Ryan turned his head fully in my direction, and he immediately froze, the laughter dropping from his features as his face paled considerably, "Listen man, I gotta go, but I'll come around and see you later tonight…Yeah, sure, I'll keep an eye on her…okay bye."

Hanging up the phone, Ryan smiled nervously at me, "Hey Gabster, listen, I gotta go, class to take care of and everything," He laughed nervously and walked speedily away, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to get away as he did so, leaving me to stare after him in confusion, wondering who the Troy was that he was talking to and who the she was that they were evidently talking about…

**Well, that was Chapter 4, I hope that you guys' liked it, please review and tell me what you thought, because I'm not too sure about chapters I write from characters P.O.V., so feedback would be much appreciated…**


	5. Chapter 5

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, I am so so so sorry for not updating in so long, my computer has been breaking down and because all of my stuff has already been saved, I couldn't get to it, anyway, it's fixed now, so hopefully updates should be more regular again, anyway, here's chapter 5, I hope that you like it, please read and review!**

**Chapter 5**

"Dad, I'm home," Lilly-Ella yelled, wincing as she heard the squeal of brakes outside, signalling that David had definitely left, "Dad?"

"I'm in the kitchen Lila," a voice yelled out, and she grinned, dropping her schoolbag at the foot of the stairs and skipping to the kitchen, freezing when she saw her Dad sat with a very familiar face.

"But…but…but, you're my teacher," Lilly-Ella stuttered out, her finger pointing at Ryan as both he and Troy chuckled at the wide eyed young girl stood before them, her bag having unconsciously fallen to the floor in her shock at seeing her new drama teacher sat at her breakfast bar in her kitchen, with her father.

"Yes Lila, he's also my best friend," Troy chuckled, his daughter still looking stunned in the doorway as Ryan grinned at her and turned to Troy.

"She's still as beautiful as ever then," Ryan beamed, and Lilly-Ella blushed as he turned back to look at her, "I may have only actually met you a few times when you were just a kid Lilly-Ella, but it was always obvious that your Dad was going to have a fun time when it came to the teenage years and boys," Ryan laughed again, and this time, Lilly-Ella joined in, while Troy crossed his arms in a huff and started to mutter slightly under his breath.

Still giggling, Lilly-Ella made her way across the room to Troy, and gently pecked his cheek, before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug, "Anyway, hiya Daddy," She grinned, and Troy chuckled, kissing her forehead softly, as he hugged her back, "Love you," she beamed, pulling away.

"I love you too Lila," Troy smiled, leaning forward and grabbing his car keys from the bench top in front of him, "But right now, I have to get back to work, so behave yourself, and don't do anything that I wouldn't."

Lilly-Ella smirked slightly as she glanced at her Dad, heading straight for the fridge, "So what, you want me to set the cooker on fire, blow up the microwave, leave the garden hose on but rolled up in one spot, consume as much alcohol as physically possible and refill the bottles with water, oh and let the dog run lose with a paint brush covered in red paint," Lilly-Ella glanced at their little husky puppy Oreo, who glanced back up at her, before returning to wrecking one of Troy's shoes, and then she glanced up at Troy himself, who had gone physically paler, causing her smirk to grow as Ryan roared with laughter beside him, "Oh yeah, Grams talks," She snickered slightly, and Troy slowly regained some of the colour to his face.

"All right then smart aleck don't do what I would do," he chuckled softly and leaned over to drop a kiss to the top of her head, before turning once more to Ryan, "Ry, you can either leave now, but feel free to stay for as long as you want, just don't become a bad influence on my daughter," Troy smiled at the two once more, before heading out the door as Ryan rolled his eyes.

"I don't think that it's possible to be a bad influence on someone who has you for their Dad, Bolton!" he yelled after Troy, grinning when Lilly-Ella started to giggle and Troy yelled something indecipherable back, before the slamming of a door was heard.

Opening the fridge, Lilly-Ella dived straight for the bottom shelf, and beamed as she found the chocolate milk, instantly pulling out a bottle, and standing back up, only to see Ryan with his eyebrows raised as he flicked through the paper, his coffee mug still stationed in front of him, "What?" She asked cautiously, eyeing her new teacher turned one of her Dad's best friends up and down.

"Chocolate milk?" he questioned, his eyebrows raising even more, "What are you five?"

"Yep," She beamed, "want one?"

Ryan considered her question for a good five seconds, before nodding his head eagerly, and catching the new bottle as she threw it at him, "You know, you forget how good this stuff really tastes."

Lilly-Ella nodded in agreement, before sitting on the stool opposite Ryan and looking at him curiously, "Mr Evans?"

Ryan glanced back up from the paper in wonder, before smiling an easy smile at me, "You know that you can call me Ryan at home right Lilly-Ella? Seriously Mr Evans makes me feel old," just as Lilly-Ella opened her mouth, Ryan jumped back in again, "And don't say anything about that."

Grinning, the teenager just nodded, smiling slightly at Ryan, as she tilted her head, trying to place him, "How come you knew me as a child, but I don't remember you?"

Smiling softly at her, Ryan closed the paper and sat up, looking her directly in the eye, "For the most part, when we met you were very young, and it was on very rare occasions anyway, and then as you got older, you would stay with friends while your Dad and I met up, although that was rare as well, given that the two of you lived in L.A. and I lived in Albuquerque, where your Dad refused point blanc to come to. I do remember the first time I met you though, you were two going on three, and you definitely made a lasting impression on me that day," Ryan chuckled as Lilly-Ella leaned in to listen closely to the story of the first meeting between the two.

**Flashback**

**Ryan glanced at the scrap of paper in his hand, before heading straight into an apartment building, taking a deep breath as he took the lift to the third floor and found himself standing outside of the apartment of a man that he thought he would never hear from again.**

**Sighing slightly, he raised his hand and knocked on the door of his old best friend who he hadn't seen in almost three years, and who had broken Gabriella's heart. Remembering that fact, Ryan felt the anger once more build up in his veins, scrunching up the tattered note in his hand, as the door to the apartment swung open, revealing Troy Bolton.**

**Ryan's mouth fell open as he looked up at Troy Bolton, yet not as he knew him, the Troy Bolton that he had once known would have rather lived in a room with week old meal dishes and rubbish galore, rather than listen to his Mother and actually tidy his room, whereas this Troy Bolton was stood before Ryan, a dish cloth in hand as he held a freshly cleaned plate in his other hand, and beyond him, Ryan could see an extremely clean apartment, minus the amount of children's toys that seemed to litter the place, causing Ryan's confusion to grow even more.**

"**Ryan," Troy murmured, a stunned expression on his face, before a grin broke out, and he pulled Ryan in for a quick hug, which the blonde man quickly reciprocated, before remembering his anger and abruptly pushing Troy away again, his eyes studying his old friend.**

**"You've got some explaining to do Bolton," Ryan muttered harshly, a glare fixed onto his face as the fire danced through his eyes, and Troy winced slightly.**

"**Yeah, I guess that I deserve that," Troy sighed, opening the door wider and directing Ryan to the living room, where both men sat on the couch and just stared at each other for a time.**

**Troy was trying to figure out a way to explain the events of the past two and a bit years to Ryan, when he noticed Ryan's face twist up into a smile, before he burst into laughter, and Troy looked at him bewildered, before he realised that Ryan was looking at something over his shoulder, and turning around slowly, Troy watched his about to turn three year old daughter frowning in concentration as she tried to get the DVD player to shut once more, a ham, tomato and cucumber sandwich wedged in the disk drive as Troy watched in panic at the beam that crossed her face as the DVD player finally shut once more, before making a horrific whirring noise and emitting a puff of smoke, making Lilly-Ella laugh and pet it as though it was an animal, before tottering to her feet and looking up, smiling at Troy and Ryan from where she stood in her bright pink t-shirt and denim dungarees with the butterfly on the front pocket, that had come unclipped at one side** (picture in profile),** her almost black chin length curls swept to the side with a tiny pink studded clip, as she held her arms up to Troy.**

"**Daddy!" She squealed, a beam lighting up her face as she waved her tiny arms at him, and Troy strode across the room, feeling his heart melt as he picked her up and she snuggled into him, before pulling away and kissing his cheek, sending him a toothy smile, which instantly melted away any of Troy's remaining anger and he resigned himself to buying yet another new DVD player.**

"**Lilly-Ella was that your lunch?" he questioned as he tried to pry open the DVD player with one hand, keeping the other wrapped securely around his baby girl, while Ryan sat back down on the couch, smiling at the pair.**

"**Yes," Lilly-Ella muttered innocently, folding her arms across her chest and looking up at Troy with wide eyes, "Yucky cwumber."**

**Troy laughed softly at her attempt to say cucumber, and kissed the top of her head lightly, although he could feel his heart wrenching, remembering the time that Gabriella had said something along those lines about hating cucumber.**

**Finally, Troy managed to open the DVD player, the force of it sending both himself and a giggling Lilly-Ella tumbling to the floor, as Ryan watched on in amusement as Troy tried to keep both Lilly-Ella and the sandwich from being crushed into the carpet.**

**Sighing, Troy stood up once more, smiling quickly at Ryan, before exiting through the door that Ryan had watched the young child come through, and returning moments later with the young girl still clutched in one arm, the sandwich now no where in sight.**

**Glancing once more at the ruined DVD player, Troy shook his head slightly, returning to the couch and sitting beside Ryan, bringing Lilly-Ella onto his lap and smiling at her softly as he refastened the side of her dungarees that had come unfastened and kissed the top of her head lovingly, as he folded his arms back around her tiny body and she leant back into him, a small sigh exiting her mouth as her eyes fluttered closed and she snuggled tightly into Troy, her minuscule hands running the material of his t-shirt through them, Troy slowly rocking them from side to side as his daughter entered the world of sleeping.**

**Troy glanced up to see Ryan watching the pair in utter confusion, catching Troy's eyes, Ryan raised his eyebrows slightly, "Explanation please," He managed to squeak out, all of his anger gone once more, as he desperately tried to decipher why Troy had a child, much less a child who looked so much like Gabriella, yet Gabriella was no where in this child's life, no pictures of her even hanging on the walls which were covered in picture of Troy and the little girl, both together and apart, covering from when she was a tiny baby right up until present day.**

**Sighing softly, Troy glanced down at Lilly-Ella, before looking back up at Ryan, "Would you like anything to drink Ryan?" He asked, desperate to get away from the subject of Lilly-Ella and why he left Albuquerque in the first place.**

"**Troy," Ryan muttered sternly, raising an eyebrow as Troy cringed slightly.**

"**Jeez Ryan, you make me feel like I'm back in Ms.Darbus' room and I've done something wrong," Troy thought for a minute, and then grinned, "Again."**

**Ryan just chuckled, grinning back at Troy, "Yeah, cos you were and absolute angel in high school," Troy grinned as Ryan rolled his eyes, "Seriously though Troy, what the hell happened? Why did you leave? Why do you have a child? How do you have a child? Who is she? Why does she look so much like Gabs? Why did you phone me and not the others?"**

"**Full of questions today aren't we Ryan," Troy muttered darkly, and Ryan shot him another stern look, causing Troy to sigh softly, "Ok, starting with the easiest, I called you because I know that you can keep a secret, Chad will blab to Taylor who will tell Kelsi, who will tell Jason, who will tell Zeke, who will tell Shar, who will then tell Gabriella, and neither me nor my daughter are ready for her back in our lives once more," Troy smiled slightly at Ryan, who nodded looking confused, and opened his mouth to say something, before Troy cut him off, "It all started nearly three years ago now on the eighth of August two thousand and eight, Gabriella was pregnant, but her bump was so small that it was impossible to actually tell, most people just thought that she had gained a little weight, so we decided not to tell you guys, in case we ended up putting the baby up for adoption, because our parents, of course, well they weren't happy at all about the entire thing," Troy sighed, planting a kiss to Lilly-Ella's head, as Ryan's mouth dropped open in shock, "Ella and I decided that the baby was our responsibility, and that we were both going to raise him or her together, no matter what our parents thought, or however hard it would end up, we would always have each other, a family," Troy sighed again, and Ryan watched his friend closely, noticing the hurt and pain that seemed to flicker throughout his eyes as he talked about the events of that summer, "the day that our baby was born, the eighth, something happened with Gabriella, she basically threatened to put our little girl up for adoption if I didn't take her and leave, I don't know what happened to Ella, but she said, that she'd never loved the baby and that she no longer loved me, so I took our baby and I left, but I couldn't stay in Albuquerque, so after one quick little stop off at home, we were off down here to L.A., where we stayed with my aunt for a couple of weeks, before actually moving in to this apartment. I figured that Ella would need you guys around as friends, so I never contacted any of you ever again, and now I'm guessing that you all hate me," Troy finished, closing his eyes slightly, before reopening them and connecting them with Ryan's sympathetic ones.**

"**I hate to say it Troy, but yeah, the majority now hate you, since I now know the full story, I obviously don't, and Kelsi has never said a bad word against you, she won't say a word against you for that matter, her reasoning being that we don't have all of the facts about you leaving to make a judgement," Ryan smiled softly at Troy, before his eyes flickered down to Lilly-Ella, "She's adorable Troy, and obviously a well behaved kid, minus her vendetta against DVD players, what's her name?"**

**Both Troy and Ryan chuckled softly, as Troy shifted the now just woken Lilly-Ella in his arms so that she could see Ryan, "Ryan this is my baby girl Lilly-Ella Anne Bolton, and Lilly-Ella, this is your Uncle Ryan," He smiled at the small girl as she eyed Ryan up curiously, before breaking out into a massive toothy grin and crawling across the couch to Ryan's lap, starting to tell him all about her and her Daddy as both men grinned at her.**

**End Flashback**

"And that was the first time I met you," Ryan chuckled softly as Lilly-Ella smiled back at him, "I ended up staying with you and your Dad for a week, taking over your bedroom while you stayed with him, and you were a right little character, in that week I was lucky if I went anywhere either without you following or without you asking where I was going and why."

Lilly-Ella grinned back at him, "I don't remember any of that, but I do remember Dad telling me that I managed to break something like three DVD players by using them for stashes of things I didn't want."

"Yeah, well after that, I talked to your Dad on a daily basis, but I didn't get to see you guys' again until the December like five months later," Ryan grinned as the memory resurfaced in his mind, "You were a right little argumentative child, you never wanted to do anything that your Dad wanted you to do, or you just point blanc ignored what he had just told you not to do and did it anyway."

"Some things never change then," Lilly-Ella giggled slightly as she brought back two more chocolate milks for the pair.

"Yeah well you certainly knew how to wind some people up, and you weren't afraid to say what you thought either," Ryan chuckled softly, smiling at the teenager as he began to relive yet another cherished memory with her.

**Flashback**

**Ryan looked up as the bell above the restaurant door dinged, signalling that someone else had just opened the door. A grin curled onto his face as he saw two faces that he had not seen in five long months, since his first trip out to L.A. to see them in July.**

**Lilly-Ella's tiny hand clutched tightly onto Troy's larger one, swaying slightly to her own music as Troy's eyes wandered around the restaurant, eventually catching on Ryan's, as he smiled and bent down next to his daughter.**

**Ryan watched intently as Lilly-Ella listened to Troy, her spare hand's fingers in her mouth as her little head bobbed up and down, her curls flying, even though they were held back by a thin red hairband with a bow on it. Grinning once more as her electric blue eyes shot up to meet his, Ryan opened his arms, and she came racing across the restaurant straight for him, as Troy stood up and rolled his eyes, chuckling slightly, obviously having just told her not to do that.**

**Dodging waiters and other diners, Lilly-Ella sprinted across the room, her red cardigan and just above knee length grey check skirt with red trim flowing out behind her as her shiny black Mary-Jane's slapped against the floor, her cream tights and cream blouse **(picture in profile)** creating contrasting colours, Troy following slowly behind her in his blue button up shirt and black dress pants, apologising to customers and staff alike as Lilly-Ella hurtled through them.**

"**Uncle Ry!" She squealed, leaping up onto his lap and wrapping her tiny arms around him as he wrapped his around her in a tight hug and Troy slipped into the other side of the booth, smiling at the pair.**

"**Hey there kitten," Ryan chuckled softly, kissing the top of her head as she clambered out of his arms and sat between him and Troy in the booth, "How've you been then?"**

"**I'm gwood," Lilly-Ella beamed, picking up her menu to read as Troy smiled at his daughter, wondering how many words she would actually be able to pick out, although knowing that even as a three year old, she could probably read most of the menu herself, "Daddy and I went Chwistmas swopping, but all of the pwesents have bween twaken to Santa now for Gwams and Gwampa and wu, he alwedy has mwine though, and wu?"**

**Ryan grinned at the young girl, who was so easy to make conversation with, even at such a young age, as she began to twirl a strand of her dark hair around her fingers, watching him closely, "I'm very well thank you Lilly-Ella, are you looking forward to Santa coming?"**

**The three year old nodded ecstatically, before returning to her menu, as Ryan chuckled once more and turned to look at Troy, smiling at the proud look on his best friend's face, and still unable to believe that this responsible twenty one year old father was once the East High basketball God that he knew.**

"**Hey Troy," Ryan grinned at him as the young Lakers basketball star finally snapped out of his trance and looked back to Ryan.**

**"Nice to know that you finally notice me Ryan," Troy grinned back, and Ryan couldn't help the small chuckle that erupted from his mouth, "And I told you that you'd be a bad influence on my daughter Ryan, the minute that she sees you, she does something that I just told her not to." Troy glanced back to Lilly-Ella, whose brow was furrowed in concentration as she tried to read the menu, before glancing back up to Ryan with a grin.**

"**Hey I'm not the one that lives with her twenty four seven," Ryan defended, holding his hands up as the waitress came over to take their order, eyeing Troy up and causing him to shuffle uncomfortable as Ryan tried to control his laughter.**

"**Hi, I'm Amber, and I'll be your waitress today, are you ready to order?" The waitress asked in a high-pitched voice, causing both Troy and Ryan to wince and Lilly-Ella to raise her eyebrows.**

"**Lady, you gots a squeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaky voice," Lilly-Ella told her, pointing a finger at her as she dragged out the word squeaky causing the waitress to turn crimson, a murderous expression covering her face as she glared at Lilly-Ella, gritting her teeth as the guys' smothered their laughter.**

"**Awww, aren't you such a sweet little angel, I bet that you just love spending time with your older brother don't you?" Amber smiled sickly sweet at Lilly-Ella, as the young girl pulled a face, and Troy decided to intervene before an argument could break out, figuring that Lilly-Ella was probably smarter than this waitress anyway.**

"**Actually Miss, she's not my little sister, she's my daughter," Troy smirked slightly as the smile dropped from Amber's face, and she quickly ran off, causing both of the Bolton's to roll their eyes, well used to the same reaction by this point, and Ryan to sit, watching after her, looking fairly stunned.**

**A few minutes later, a red head appeared at their table and smiled at the trio, "Hey, I'm really sorry about Amber, she's a little," the girl rolled her eyes into her head slightly as she tried to figure out a word to describe Amber, "dramatic." She finished as all of the occupants at the table laughed, "Anyway, I'm Maisie, are you ready to order yet?"**

"**I'll have a bwig swice of twocolate cwake wif extwa whipped cweam thwank wu," Lilly-Ella beamed, placing her menu down in front of her and folding her hands on the table as Ryan and Maisie chuckled softly and Troy looked at his young daughter with raised eyebrows.**

"**I think not Lila, if you have room after dinner than you can maybe have that, now pick something proper," Troy instructed, trying his best not to laugh along with Ryan and Maisie.**

"**Fine then," Lilly-Ella sighed, picking up her menu again momentarily and studying it, before a beam flew across her face and she dropped it once more, looking straight back at Maisie, "I'll have twocolate cwovered pantakes pwease."**

"**Think again," Troy muttered, looking sternly at his daughter as she sighed once more, picking up the menu again.**

"**A tweeseburger then, but I dwon't want the kwids one cause I'm nwot a bwaby anymwore, I'm a big gwirl," Lilly-Ella smiled, and Ryan bit down hard on his lower lip in an attempt to stop the laughter that was threatening to burst through.**

"**Lilly-Ella, you'll never eat the adults one, so you have to have the children's one," Troy informed his daughter as her bottom lip started to quiver and her eyes widened, and she stared straight back at Troy, as Maisie looked between the two, a small smile gracing her features as she turned to the little girl.**

"**Hey Lilly-Ella," She smiled and immediately, Lilly-Ella turned to look at her, "You know that nobody else has ordered a kid's cheeseburger today and so yours will be the first one, making you one very special little girl because the kid's cheeseburger is chef Michael's special."**

"**Really?" Lilly-Ella questioned, excitement dancing through her blue orbs as Troy breathed a sigh of relief.**

"**Uh-huh, so what'll it be, are you gonna be special, or not?" Maisie beamed back down at her as Lilly-Ella nodded her head enthusiastically, "Good, and I'm sure that the chef will be pleased too."**

**After finally finishing at the restaurant, including Lilly-Ella's big slice of cake, that was then shared between the three of them, the trio headed back to the Bolton's, where the two guys' were forced into watching Sleeping Beauty, with their daughter/goddaughter, respectively.**

**End Flashback**

"After that meeting, I used to meet up with your Dad two or three times a year, but I only ever saw you at the most once a year, although I always sent you Christmas and birthday presents," Ryan smiled sadly at her as Lilly-Ella nodded softly, "Your Dad and I decided that it was better for me to have as little contact with you as possible, for fear that his old friends would find the two of you, and they were mad at him for leaving, so everything I had for you guys' was under Parker Smith, the phone numbers, the address, and if my friends asked if I knew the Lakers star, I just laughed and said no that it was only a coincidence that the names were the same."

"Uncle Ryan?" Lilly-Ella asked timidly, and Ryan smiled at her, happy that she had started to call him uncle again as he nodded for her to continue, "Did you or do you know my Mom?"

Ryan closed his eyes, having been dreading this question ever appearing, "The quick answer to that is yes I do know your Mom, Kitten, but I don't think that it's such a good idea that I tell you about her, that's got to come from your Dad," Ryan smiled at her and gently placed two fingers under her chin, lifting her face to look at him, and smiling sadly at her when he saw the tears swimming in her eyes, "You will find out about her eventually Kitten, it might just take some time, your Dad still loves her, you know that though, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Lilly-Ella sniffed quietly, wiping furiously at her eyes, "But I have homework that I've got to do Uncle Ryan, so can you please excuse me?"

"Sure thing, Kitten, anyway I better go, I have to be at my sister's for dinner in twenty minutes and she will kill me if I'm late," Ryan grinned as Lilly-Ella giggled softly, kissing the top of her head in a protective way, before smiling once more at her, "If you ever need any help though Kitten, I'm right here, ok?"

Lilly-Ella smiled and nodded, waving goodbye to Ryan as she closed the door and headed up the stairs to get a start on her homework…

**Well guys, that was chapter 5, I am so sorry once again for the long wait, but please leave me a review and tell me what you thought, hopefully chapter 6 should be out soon as well.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, I'm glad that you all liked Chapter 5, anyway, here's Chapter 6, I hope that you like it, and please review and tell me what you think of it, I love to hear what you guys think, it's great motivation!**

**Chapter 6**

Walking into school the following day, Lilly-Ella grinned as she saw Matt leaning against the locker next to her own, his eyes staring at the wall in front of him, not a single movement coming from him except for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

"Well hello there, Poster Boy," Lilly-Ella beamed as she walked up to her locker and started to spin in her combination, laughing as she watched matt jump out of his skin, before turning his golden coloured eyes onto her sparkling blue ones in a mock glare, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Miss Bolton, has your Mother never told you that it's not polite to sneak up on people like that and give them a near enough heart attack?" Matt asked jokingly, but the laughter died on his face as he watched Lilly-Ella's head fall forward, and a single water droplet hit the floor just in front of where she was standing, followed by another one and then another one.

Instinctively grabbing her hand, Matt pulled her down the corridor and into one of the empty science classrooms, not even bothering to turn on the lights; he bypassed straight through the room and gently dragged Lilly-Ella through a door, and up a flight of stairs, until they burst into a garden filled with vibrant colours and sweet scents.

Paying no attention to the garden, Matt tugged Lilly-Ella towards the wooden bench and sat down, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around her, wincing as he watched a dark spot grow on his jeans where her cool tears fell onto them, pooling together, "Lilly-Ella, I'm really sorry, what did I do wrong?" He questioned softly, keeping his arms around her as he gently rubbed one hand over the back of her knuckles, where her hand was clenched into a fist on his knee.

Lilly-Ella's head lifted up and Matt felt his heart break slightly at the vulnerable look that seemed to shine in the young girl's blood shot eyes, "It's not your fault Matt," furiously, she wiped at her eyes, pulling her hand away from matt's, as he just held her close to him, concern etched into his features, "It's just that my Mom left me on the day that I was born and I haven't seen or heard from her since. G-d she must hate me, I probably ruined her life, and I know that I ruined her relationship with my Dad, even though he's still so obviously hopelessly in love with her. I ruin everything for everyone," Lilly-Ella sighed, pushing herself up from Matt's lap and heading over to the rail, staring into the distance as she gripped the railing, thoughts of how many peoples' lives would have turned out for the better if she had never been born running through her head.

She jumped as she felt two arms wrap around her waist, pulling her back slightly, "Don't Lilly-Ella," Matt whispered sternly, and she turned her face to look at him slightly, the bewilderment growing on her features, "Don't think that people would be better of without you, don't think that you don't make a positive impact, don't think that people don't need you."

Turning around with his arms still wrapped securely around her, Lilly-Ella looked Matt straight in the eye, trying to decipher how he seemed to know everything about her after only meeting her the day before, "How did you-"

Matt smiled softly, and lifted one hand from her waist to wipe away the remainder of her tears with the back of his hand, wrapping his arm tightly around her again as he looked her deeply in the eyes, "I might have only met you yesterday Star Girl, but I think that somehow I know you better than a lot of people, and I think that the same can already be said for you knowing me as well. Besides, with everything that you told me about you Dad, and those two that you said were already like brothers to you, Joe and David, I think they were called," he smiled once more as Lilly-Ella nodded slightly, her eyes still locked to his, "There's a lot of people who love you and would miss you like crazy if you weren't there, and I know for definite one person who would be at a loss without you."

"Who?" Lilly-Ella questioned, her brow wrinkling in confusion as Matt smiled down at her.

"Me Star Girl," he whispered slightly, as their faces drew slowly closer to one another, "You're already saving me," Matt whispered against her lips as they slowly joined, and he pulled her closer to him, allowing her arms to run up his chest and wrap around his neck, slowly twirling the ends of his sandy coloured hair in her finger tips.

Pulling away from each other, they stared into the others eyes for a good five minutes, "Wow," they muttered simultaneously, before bursting into laughter as Lilly-Ella buried her head into Matt's chest, shaking her head so that her curls fell around her face, her hands clutching at his white shirt as his were still wrapped around her waist.

Using two fingers, Matt gently placed them underneath Lilly-Ella's face and turned her head up so that they were once more eye to eye, "Star Girl, I know that I only met you yesterday, but I feel like I've known you my entire life, so I guess what I'm trying to say is…" Matt trailed off as he tried to think of the words, glancing down when a sweet giggle echoed around his ears, immediately bringing a smile to his face as he felt the warmth of her lips pressed up against his once more.

"I feel the same way," Lilly-Ella beamed, pulling back once more and grinning at him.

"Be my girlfriend?" Matt asked quietly, resting his forehead against hers.

"Of course," Lilly-Ella grinned, and felt herself pulled back into him for a third time, as they both grinned into the kiss.

Pulling back once more, Matt sighed and looked at his watch, feeling his eyes grow wide as Lilly-Ella watched in puzzlement, "Well I think that we can safely say that we've missed homeroom and half of first period and Mrs Danforth and Mrs Cross, the music teacher, are going to kill us for missing their homeroom and their music lesson, so without feeling like being tortured much more than two detentions, should we go and see if we can make it up to Mrs Cross?"

Giggling slightly, Lilly-Ella grabbed Matt's hand with her own and the two headed back down the stairs, thankful that the science classroom was still empty, and started to head down the corridor to music, praying that they wouldn't get into too much trouble.

"Lilly-Ella Bolton," a voice thundered from the end of the corridor, and immediately both teens froze and turned their wide eyes on each other, turning around slowly.

Lilly-Ella glared at Ryan as he walked down the corridor towards them chuckling, "Ahh, I love being a teacher here sometimes," Ryan chuckled as Lilly-Ella's glare intensified.

"Uncle Ryan, that wasn't even funny," Lilly-Ella scolded, releasing Matt and hitting her 'Uncle' over the shoulder, before hugging him tightly and taking back a hold of Matt's hand, "Don't you ever have classes to teach?"

"I could say the same thing to you," Ryan bantered as Matt watched in amusement at the scowl coursing across his girlfriends petite features, and another pair of chocolate coloured eyes watched from around the corner at the end of the corridor.

"I'm not a teacher here, so I can't teach the lessons, unless I take over yours for you," Lilly-Ella grinned cheekily.

Taylor decided to make her presence known and stepped around the corner, staring at the trio in the middle of the hallway, the young basketball stars arm wrapped around the beaming girl, as they both grinned at something that Ryan had just said.

Both Ryan and Taylor watched as Lily-Ella's eyes suddenly grew wide and her face drastically paled, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to form words that just wouldn't come, so instead she lifted her finger and pointed at something past Ryan, causing him to whip around and stare straight at Taylor, his face becoming a duplicate of Lilly-Ella's as he too tried to find the words to speak to the woman at the end of the hallway, and Matt just glanced between all three of them, a confused expression spreading over his face that turned to concern each time that he looked at Lilly-Ella.

"How do you know her Ryan?" Taylor choked out, "Who is she?"

**Well that was chapter 6, I hope you guys liked it, and please review and tell me what you thought!**


	7. Chapter 7

Mistakes

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but between school and work I've barely had time to breath let alone write. Thanks so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter, and hopefully I should be able to update more frequently, at least over the next week or so because I'm off school, anyway, here's chapter 7, and I know it's short, but hopefully chapter 8 will be up tomorrow, or the day after, so I hope that you enjoy it and please review!**

**Chapter 7**

"Who is she Ryan?" Taylor harshly questioned the shocked blonde haired man once more, folding her arms across her chest and tapping her foot impatiently, as Lilly-Ella tugged on Ryan's arm, causing her to look at her desperate pleading face and nod slightly, as she turned and sprinted up the hallway, dragging a very confused Matt with her. "Who is she Ryan?" Taylor repeated through gritted teeth, growing more annoyed with every minute that Ryan ignored her questioning.

Turning back to Taylor, Ryan smiled weakly and started to pace slowly towards her, "Come on Tay, let's go to my classroom, and I'll tell you what I know." Gently, he reached out to take hold of her arm, but she snatched it out of his reach quickly, and stepped backwards.

"No Ryan! You will tell me who she is, and why she is practically a duplicate of my best friend, with all of the same mannerisms as well right now!" Taylor screamed in frustration.

Ryan's eyes darkened and his mouth set into a scowl as he looked at Taylor darkly, "I will not put her in harms way Taylor, so if you want to know who she is, you will come to my classroom, and I have a meeting with her father in ten minutes, so you can come and ask him questions as well." With that said, Ryan turned on his heel, and stomped back down the hallway, unsurprised by the timid that followed behind him only moments later. Smirking, Ryan realised that his plan was already being mobilised, he knew that Taylor had always considered Troy as her little brother, so once he had her on his side, plan gang would be promptly on its' way, followed swiftly by plan Bolton.

Ryan had been the only one to see the affects of the separation on all three of the should be family members.

Gabriella never had the twinkle in her eyes anymore that had been ever present when Troy was around during their teenage years, and her laughter lacked the melodic sound that it had once had.

Troy found it much more difficult to trust anybody, and was always exceedingly wary of new people and Ryan knew for a fact that his love life had been empty ever since he had left Albuquerque as the broken hearted eighteen year old father.

Lilly-Ella had grown into a beautiful sixteen year old, but a one who had lived her entire life without her mother by her side to confide on and to boost up her confidence. Of course she had had Troy, who had always been there for her, and who would do anything for his daughter, but Ryan knew that Lilly-Ella needed a mother as well.

Ryan sighed softly. He had to help make them all happy once more, he had to get the three of them back together for the first time since the day of Lilly-Ella's birth, he had to help them become the Bolton family, once and for all.

Checking back over his shoulder, he grinned when he saw that Taylor was still following him, and opened the door to his drama classroom, a room that the old Wildcats knew surprisingly well, one that held so many memories for all nine of them, Ms. Darbus' old room, and grinned even more as he saw the ex-basketball captain, East High's ex-golden boy sat in a position that he would usually take up every morning in an attempt to irritate Ms. Darbus as much as possible, typically before starting a heated debate with Gabriella which would often get them both kicked out of the room, followed by the rest of the gang as they would continue the debate after their leaders left, sat on the teacher's chair, his feet resting on the desk, throwing a mini basketball up and down…

**Well guys, that was Chapter 7, and like I said, hopefully I'll have more time to write, so please review and tell me what you thought.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks so much to all of you that reviewed, I'm really sorry that I didn't update as quickly as I should have done, but time just seems to be disappearing, anyway, the next one should be out soon, it's already half written, anyway, I hope that you like chapter 8, and please review! You're reviews really mean a lot to me.**

**Chapter 8**

"Hey Ryan, why are you just standing in the doorway?" Troy asked, stilling his movements with the small basketball and standing up, a mystified look spreading across his face from his eyes, as Ryan silently stepped aside, revealing a stunned looking Taylor behind him.

"Tay-Tay, I can ex-," Troy was cut off by a sudden squeal as Taylor rushed forward, throwing her arms tightly around Troy, all of her anger towards him dying the minute that she had spotted the familiar shine of those ice blue eyes, both Ryan and Troy bursting into laughter, as Troy wrapped his arms tightly around the one that he had happily called his big sister for years.

Pulling away from Troy, Taylor held him at arms length and studied him, a range of different emotions running through her eyes, varying from anger to hurt, "Troy Bolton," she whispered softly, speaking the name without malice for the first time in just over sixteen years, her eyes never once leaving his, "Where the hell have you been? Why are you back? What are you doing at East High? How could you go sixteen freaking years without talking to me once? Does Gabriella know that you're back?" Suddenly Taylor stopped her questions, listening to Troy's sharp intake of breath at the sound of his ex-girlfriend's name, "Oh My G-d," Taylor barely managed to stutter out, her eyes never once leaving Troy's as she fell backwards into Ryan's chair, "Oh my G-d, Lilly-Ella she's hers and she's yours and oh my G-d."

"Ryan do you have a glass of water?" Troy asked quietly, glancing quickly up at the blonde haired man stood in the doorway, before looking back to the shell shocked Taylor, who appeared unmoving in the chair, her mouth hung open and her eyes wide, his concern growing more by the minute.

"Yeah man, but why do you wan-" Ryan cut himself off as his head snapped around to look at Troy, "No way man, she'll kill you if you throw a glass of water in her face, there is absolutely no way that you can do that."

Troy just grinned back at Ryan, "Dude, she considers me as her little brother, little brothers have got to get into mischief some of the time, and I've had no opportunities for sixteen years now, so this is just to great of an chance to pass up."

Ryan passed Troy the glass of water, still looking uneasy as he moved back to the door and shut it, sure that Taylor's screams would only attract attention otherwise.

Standing up, Troy took a breath and closed his eyes tightly as he flung the cold water directly into Taylor's face, and she immediately started screaming, causing both Troy and Ryan's hands to fly up to their ears.

"Troy David Alexander Bolton!" Taylor roared, standing up with the water dripping from her face as she glared up at Troy, an innocent expression instantaneously finding its way to his face as he hid the now empty glass behind his back.

"Yes Tay-Tay?" He questioned softly, looking like a young boy that was about to get wrong for pushing a girl over in the playground.

"Don't even think of pulling that cutesie stuff on me Bolton, you just threw water straight into my face!" Taylor screamed, and Troy shrank back slightly at the sound of her voice, Ryan's hand making his way to his face to smother the laughs that he was hiding with obviously fake coughs, oblivious to the glares of his best friend.

"It wasn't me, it was Ryan," Troy smiled sweetly, the innocent expression still never leaving his face as Ryan's mouth dropped in shock, and Taylor eventually burst into laughter, unable to hide it anymore as she grabbed Troy into yet another hug.

"I have to say that I've missed the little brother antics that you've always managed to pull on me Troy," Taylor laughed softly, a whole fountain of memories exploding in her mind of every antic that Troy had pulled on her in high school, once a week, if not more, ever since they became friends in sophomore year, after Gabriella joined the school, "Somehow you always got away with it too, baby brother," She smirked, watching as Troy frowned, and Ryan immediately burst into laughter, he once more remembering as Taylor already had the way that they had gotten back at Troy for his pranks, by calling him their 'baby brother,' and usually in highly public places.

"Taylor, I'm only five months younger than you!" Troy whined, a pout now secured on his face as his arms folded across his chest, giving the impression of a young child in the middle of a tantrum.

"That's still five months Bolton," Taylor grinned, "That makes you the second youngest in our group, the only one younger than you being Ga-" Taylor cut herself off abruptly, her eyes widening as she saw Troy's face pale slightly and Ryan start to shuffle his feet nervously, she sighed softly, "I'm sorry Troy, I just didn't think, but is it true, what I thought?"

Troy smiled softly, wrapping his arms tightly around Taylor once more, almost trying to make sure that she was really there, and not yelling at him, before pulling away, and taking his turn to study how much she had changed over the past sixteen years. Sighing slightly, he dropped down into Ryan's desk chair and spun around once, before looking up at his two old friend, the ex-brainiac and the ex-drama geek, now perched on Ryan's desk, watching him cautiously, "Yes Taylor, it's true, Lilly-Ella is just as much Gabriella's daughter as she is mine."

"What happened Troy?" Taylor whispered softly, the confusion and concern spreading across her face as she looked at the torn apart blue-eyed man sat in front of her.

Sighing slightly, Troy sent Taylor a weak smile, before launching once more into the story that would always be fresh in his mind, the one that he dwelled on at every moment that he got, the one where his family was ripped straight from underneath his feet, and even he didn't understand the full story, he still had no idea what was running through his ex-girlfriends head when she told him to leave with their newborn daughter.

"I'm sorry Troy," Taylor whispered sincerely, as she watched the blue-eyed man shake with emotion, his head now buried deeply into his hands, gently placing her hand on his shoulder, Taylor crouched in front of Troy, and lifted his head to look at her, wincing slightly at how vulnerable he suddenly looked, his eyes glossy with tears, "Gabriella had no right to do that to you, or Lilly-Ella, and even more, you should have told us what was going on, we would have been there for you, you shouldn't have just left us all like that."

"Yeah well, what's done is done," Troy muttered, rising to his feet and pulling Taylor in for a hug, before initiating the secret handshake between himself and Ryan that Taylor had never managed to figure out, "I gotta go guys, the Redhawks need a coach for their practice," He grinned at them, flipping his hair out of his eyes with a slight motion of his head, "But feel free to come around to mine tonight, Taylor, I'm sure that you have loads more questions, so Ryan will show you where it is, later."

With one last wave, he was out of the room, leaving a gawping Ryan and Taylor in his wake.

"Ryan did he just say he coached the Redhawks?" Taylor asked cautiously, her eyes like saucers, praying that the answer would be a no.

"Yeah, of course, he's the new coach there for this year," Ryan grinned, his expression turning to confusion when he saw Taylor's horrified look, "What?"

Putting a hand to her forehead, Taylor sighed, muttering slightly to herself, before looking back at Ryan, "Let me put this in simple terms Ry, who do we know that have little brothers playing for the team?"

Taylor watched in delight as Ryan's face slowly turned from confused to shocked and terrified as he slowly figured out what she was getting at, "Oh, oh, oh, this is not good, this is not good at all!"

"Yeah, you think?" Taylor asked sarcastically, and Ryan stuck his tongue out at her, only earning himself an eye roll back, "They're going to want to go to every single game Ryan, what are we going to do?"

Ryan sighed softly, and slung one arm around Taylor's shoulders, "I don't think that there's anything that we can do Tay, but I think it's safe to say that the Redhawks are in for one interesting season, on and off the court…"

**Well that was Chapter 8, hope that you guys liked it, and please review and tell me what you thought!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, I am a million times sorry for not updating sooner, school and work have been a nightmare, but anywhere, here's chapter 9 (finally), and hopefully chapter 10 should be out soon, please read and review, and I hope that you like it!**

**Chapter 9**

Walking down the corridor, Matt's head whipped from side to side, praying that he would find his girlfriend soon, and scowling when all he saw were random people who he didn't know, most of who were gaping at him like he was a celebrity, making him shuffle uncomfortably, as the bell suddenly rang out shrilly and there was a stampede of feet, everyone charging down the corridor to make their lessons in time, leaving a slightly dazed Matt in the corridor.

Shaking his head, Matt sighed softly, but his ears perked up and he tilted his head to the side as he heard the soft tinkering of piano keys, with a hushed melodic voice filling in the words.

_There's nothing we can't do_

_Just wanna be with you, only you_

_No matter where life takes us_

_Nothing can break us apart_

_You know it's true_

_I just wanna be with you_

Grinning again, Matt turned on his heel, and sprinted along the corridor to the auditorium, chuckling softly when he pushed the doors open, watching mesmerised, as Lilly-Ella frowned slightly, chewing at the end of a pencil, writing something down quickly, before replacing the paper, and reaching for the piano keys once more, softly starting to play the new notes which she had added to the song, humming the notes with it from where she sat in front of the piano in the centre of the stage.

Beaming, Matt bounded down the aisle way, leaping onto the stage, and bursting into laughter as Lilly-Ella gave a slight shriek and turned to glare at the person that had unexpectedly invaded her space on the stage, one hand placed over her heart.

"Matthew Thomas Baker! Are you trying to give me a heart attack before I even reach seventeen?" She shrieked, but Matt just grinned at her, flicking his hair out of his eyes and moving to sit beside her on the small piano bench, placing a quick kiss to her temple, before turning to her music sheets and moving them in front of him, glancing over the notes, and placing his hands over the piano keys as he softly started to play the song that his girlfriend had just written, trying not to laugh as he watched her eyes widen, her looking at him, as he grinned back at her, glancing back at the music sheet once more, before beginning to sing.

Lilly-Ella, **Matt**, _Both_

**I got a lot of things I have to do,**

**All these distractions our future's coming soon**

**We're being pulled**

_A hundred different directions  
_**  
But whatever happens**

_I know I've got you_

Thinking that Matt was done, Lilly-Ella smiled and looked up at him, her hands drawing away from the piano keys, "Wow, who knew that Poster Boy could sing?" Lilly-Ella grinned slightly, leaning up and kissing his cheek softly as Matt just laughed.

"I could say the same thing about you Star Girl, I mean who knew that the brainiac chick could not only run track and beat most of the jocks apart from her super hot, fantastic, amazing boyfriend," Matt grinned, wiggling his eyebrows, and Lilly-Ella rolled her eyes, shoving him playfully, "timing wise during gym, but can also write and sing music as well, you're going to take East High by storm when everyone gets to know you Lilly-Ella." Beaming once more at her, Matt ran his hands along the keys, immediately starting to sing again as Lilly-Ella giggled slightly, before joining in.

**You're on my mind**

**You're in my heart**

_It doesn't matter where we are_

_We'll be alright_

_Even if we're miles apart_

Matt beamed as he turned his head to look at Lilly-Ella, and gently nudged her with his shoulder, which she quickly retaliated to, trying to stifle her laughter as she carried on singing her lyrics, a smile lighting up her face.

_All I wanna do is be with you_

_Be with you_

_There's nothing we can't do_

_Just wanna be with you, only you_

_No matter where life takes us_

_Nothing can break us apart_

_You know it's true_

_I just wanna be with you_

Yeah yeah

**Just be with you**

**You know how life can be**

**It changes overnight**

_It's sunny then raining_, _but it's alright_

A friend like you

_Always makes it easy_

**I know that you get me**

_Every time_

_Through every up, through every down_

_You know I'll always be around_

_Through anything you can count on me_

The pair turned to each other and grinned once more, Matt's hands still working like magic on the piano keys, although neither one needed the music sheets anymore, just looking at each other was providing them everything that they needed, already knowing that even though they had just met three weeks previous, they had a stronger connection with each other, than they had ever had with anyone else in their lifetimes.

_All I wanna do is be with you_

_Be with you_

_There's nothing we can't do_

_Just wanna be with you, only you_

_No matter where life takes us_

_Nothing can break us apart_

_You know it's true_

_I just wanna be with you_

_I just wanna be with you._

"You're just full of hidden surprises aren't you," Matt grinned, his lips finding hers as he pecked them softly, before pulling away, a pout appearing on her face as he chuckled lightly.

"Well, wouldn't the school be pleased to know that their basketball star could sing," Lilly-Ella grinned mischievously, as Matt's face paled, "Ooh, even better idea, there's a sign up sheet outside the auditorium for anybody wanting to be a part of the talent show in two months time."

Getting up from the piano stool, Lilly-Ella began to make her way to the steps at the side of the stage, before feeling a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her, spinning her around in circles, her laughter bouncing off of the auditorium walls, as Matt placed her back down facing him.

"You wouldn't dare Miss Bolton, otherwise I know somebody else whose name would be joining mine only moments later, and let me give you a hint, her initials are L-E. A. B.," Matt grinned as he watched a pout form on Lilly-Ella's face once more, and she folded her arms, "Stop pouting babe, it only makes me want to do this more," Matt chuckled, lowering his mouth onto hers, as he unfolded her arms, and wrapped his around her waist, pulling her as tightly to him as humanely possible, and feeling her arms slip up around his neck, beginning to play with the strands of his hair, as his tongue slipped soundly into her mouth, and the two of them began battling for dominance, eventually pulling apart and resting their foreheads together, breathing heavily as they beamed at one another.

Hearing a sniffling sound, Lilly-Ella's eyebrows shot up, and she looked at Matt, who looked equally confused, as they stepped apart from each other, and surveyed their surrounding area, Lilly-Ella watching as something moved behind the deep red curtain, before tugging on Matt's hand, and heading backstage to where the movement was.

Rounding the corner, both Matt and Lilly-Ella's mouths dropped open, as they looked at Sassy Mitchell, the current ice queen of East High, on her knees, sobbing into her hands with her cell phone sat beside her.

"Sassy, what's wrong?" Lilly-Ella enquired quietly, disentangling her hand with Matt's, and walking towards the distraught girl, whose head had shot up and the sound of the brunettes' voice.

"What does it matter to you Bolton?" She sneered, glaring at Lilly-Ella, "But if you really want to know, my parents have just informed me that they aren't gonna bother coming to see me for another three months, all because mother needs a three month shopping freaking trip in Paris, when they've just spent six months away from me in London," Sassy screeched, showing Lilly-Ella the text with all of the information on, before hurling her cell phone across the room, watching as it smashed into tiny little pieces, and both Matt and Lilly-Ella winced, Matt moving forward to stand beside his girlfriend. "But please, don't let it be a hindrance on your perfect little lives."

Both Matt and Lilly-Ella's eyes turned cold as they turned back to face Sassy. "We don't lead perfect lives Sassy, far from it actually, parts of my life I would consider to be hell, and I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, and I know that Lilly-Ella feels the same," Matt spat out, hurt mixed with anger flashing through his golden eyes and Lilly-Ella's cerulean eyes.

"But…but, you're the basketball boy who everyone loves," She snivelled slightly, her mascara streaming down her cheeks as she turned to look once more at Lilly-Ella, "And you're the new girl who everyone is already starting to be loved like the schools new queen, and whose captured the basketball captains heart," whimpering softly, Sassy looked away from the pair, not noticing how both of them winced as she summed them up.

Sighing, Lilly-Ella dropped to her knees beside the sobbing girl, her boyfriend watching her curiously, "Sassy, you've got me all wrong, I'm nothing like this schools queen, G-d if you'd known me at my last school, you would've had a field day," Lilly-Ella laughed bitterly, and looked away as both Sassy and Matt turned to her with inquisitive eyes, neither knowing much about her life at her old school, apart from the fact that she was the smartest one there, "I was the schools 'freaky math girl'," she snorted softly as she put air quotes around her old title, "Pure and simply because I was smart, I was different, I didn't fit in, I became the target of everyone at that school, even the alleged nerds wouldn't come anywhere near me, I was a total outcast from the minute my best friend, my only friend, left in the third grade, to the time I stepped foot in East High. I ended up the butt of everyone's jokes, and I had at least seven times the amount of homework that I should have had from middle school to where we are now, thanks to the sports teams. But thanks to coming here, I can be anyone I want to be, I can completely reinvent myself if I want to, but I don't, I just want people to see me and like me for me." Lilly-Ella smiled softly, "And so far it seems to be working," She turned and beamed at Matt, who chuckled softly and grinned back, his topaz coloured eyes gleaming with joy.

"Yeah but you have no idea what it's like to be abandoned by family," Sassy muttered harshly, a glare fully fixed on Lilly-Ella, as the brunette whipped around to scowl at the blonde, and Matt sucked in a harsh breath, begging for Sassy to take back what she had just said, and praying that he wouldn't have to see that horrible, hurt look on his girlfriends face, when she delved into the past with her mother once more.

Lilly-Ella's eyes narrowed as she glowered at Sassy, "Don't you dare tell me that I don't know what it's like to be abandoned, my own mother left me on the day I was born, and that's the only detail that I know because my Dad refuses to tell me anymore, so G-d alone knows what else she said about me, or what else happened, so don't you even go into what it feels like to be abandoned, at least you saw and see you're parents some of the time, I have no idea what my mother even so much as looks like, I could have passed her a million times and I wouldn't have known," Lilly-Ella shrieked, the tears slipping freely down her face by this point, as she held up her trembling hands in a useless attempt to stop the flow of water.

Feeling a soft hand placed upon her own, Lilly-Ella looked up, straight into a pair of sincere, emerald green eyes, "I'm really sorry Lilly-Ella, I had no idea, but I really am truly sorry, you don't deserve any of what's happened to you, my previous behaviour included, I hope that you can forgive me, and I'd really like the chance to get to know you better, you know, if that's ok," biting her bottom lip nervously, Sassy held Lilly-Ella's gaze.

Nodding slightly, Lilly-Ella pulled Sassy in for a hug, smiling a little at how sincere the blonde haired girl had been with her words, and pulling back to study who she hoped would be a new friend.

Matt dropped to his knees and tenderly captured Lilly-Ella in his arms, hugging her tightly as he pulled her backwards onto his lap, kissing the top of her head gently as he sighed softly, resting his head where moments ago his lips had been, and looked up at Sassy with stormy, conflicted eyes, the caramel colour having been replaced with a muddy chocolate colour which made Sassy cringe inwardly, "Have you never wondered how even though I'm the basketball boy, the so-called G-d of East High that will save the school and win them another championship, that I never seem to have any friends around me, at least not until Star Girl moved here?"

Cocking her head slightly, Sassy blinked her emerald green eyes and nodded slightly as she studied the conflicted young man, "Yeah, that always has been something that I've wondered. I mean, I obviously didn't go to middle school with you, but I've heard people who did say that the old you is finally coming back since Lilly-Ella appeared."

Matt smiled softly, and buried his head deeply into Lilly-Ella's hair, sighing deeply, until he felt a small hand on his cheek, and brought his head out of his girlfriend's hair, only to have Lilly-Ella's head instantly whip around to look at him, curiosity and concern shining in her eyes as he gently placed a kiss to her shining lips, before looking at Sassy once more. "They're right Sassy, ever since Star girl joined East high, the old me is starting to come back, thank G-d, I honestly don't know how long I would have lasted otherwise, I would've probably self destructed, given a little more time," Matt chuckled dryly, and winced slightly when he felt Lilly-Ella's grip on his jeans tighten slightly, before her fists uncurled and wrapped around his arms that were still holding her tightly, "About two and a half years now, I lost everything that was ever important to me." Matt blinked a few times to clear the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and momentarily studied the wall behind Sassy's head, before taking another shaky breath, and launching back into his own story, "I was always so close to my parents, my Dad was my idol basically, he's the reason that I play basketball, the first thing that he did when I learnt how to walk was take me out onto our basketball court and start teaching me," Matt chuckled softly, and a small smile flitted across both of the girls' faces, "And my Mom was always so supportive it was unbelievable. They both needed, and deserved really, some time off from their hectic schedules, including taking me to basketball practices and games constantly, so they left me here with my grandparents, and took off a month long road trip. The day they were due back, I was so excited it was unreal, I couldn't wait to see them again, finally, it was the longest that I'd ever gone without seeing them. I didn't know then, that I had already seen them for the last time. Way after I'd gone to bed that night, disappointed that I hadn't seen them, I already knew that something was wrong from the looks on my grandparents faces, there was a knock on the door, two police officers were there to tell us that they had died, they were hit by a speeding truck, they never stood a chance." Sobbing quietly, Matt buried his face into Lilly-Ella's hair again, as she turned around and engulfed the shaking boy in a hug, Sassy watching from the sidelines as her own tears streamed down her face.

"I'm so sorry Matt," Lilly-Ella whispered softly, lifting her face from his, and resting their foreheads together, as she gently raised a hand and wiped away his tears, kissing the spots where the trails were still visible.

"I know, I know," he muttered softly, holding her tightly, as he pulled her back onto his lap, and the two of them rocked gently, Sassy's confusion growing, Matt looked up at her, and a tiny smile flew across his features, before disappearing once more, "I bet that you're wondering how the hell I wound up with no friends after that, huh?"

Sassy looked up at him and nodded softly, "Yeah, I mean it just doesn't make any sense, you'd think that after that you're friends would stick with you, and I'm really sorry for what happened to your parents Matt."

Matt looked at her and smiled softly as he watched the ice princess of the school chew on her lip shyly, "Thanks Sassy," He murmured quietly, sighing and kissing the top of Lilly-Ella's head once more, "Lilly-Ella already knows this part, don't you?" He questioned the brunette quietly, as she nodded and turned in his arms to face Sassy again, "My three best friends were triplets, Cooper, Cal and Connor Henries, I was with them since we were born, basically, and the four of us were never apart when we were awake, got ourselves into a lot of trouble, but it was what we were best at," Matt chuckled and Lilly-Ella giggled quietly, "But three and a half months after my parents death, their Mom got moved for a job, and they obviously had to move with their Mom and Dad, the last I heard they somewhere in Connecticut, I hear from Cooper every so often, but to the others, it's like I've dropped off of the face of the earth, Coop says it's cos they feel guilty about leaving me when I needed them, but I don't know," Matt shrugged slightly, and shifted round so that he was sitting next to Sassy, instead of facing her, leaning onto the wall, with Lilly-Ella still situated on his knee, one arm wrapped securely around her, as he held the other one out to Sassy, beckoning her to the pair, as he wrapped his other arm around her.

"G-d, aren't we such a happy, lucky bunch of people," Lilly-Ella muttered sarcastically, resting her head on Matt's shoulder, as Matt and Sassy burst into laughter, soon joined by Lilly-Ella herself. Standing up, Lilly-Ella looked back down at her boyfriend, the brunette boy, who was starting to let a little joy back into his life, and her new friend, the blonde haired girl, whose ice was starting to melt bit by bit, and held her arms out to them, "Come on guys, I think that we need to head back to mine for some junk food and trashy TV." The others looked at each other and laughed, nodding as they each grabbed one of Lilly-Ella's arms, pulling her down on top of them again as the petite girl shrieked, much to their amusement.

Three hours later, Matt felt about ready to kill himself, as he looked back and forth between the sobbing Lilly-Ella, and the sobbing Sassy, his golden coloured eyes wide with part amusement, and part fear for what was running through the girls heads.

"I can't believe he just left her," Sassy sobbed hysterically, as Lilly-Ella nodded, the two of them clutching to each other and the tub of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream they were sharing.

"Uh-huh, I know, Jack and Rose were just so perfect for each other," Lilly-Ella snivelled, more tears streaming from his eyes.

Rolling his eyes, Matt suppressed a laugh as he looked at the two girls, "I am never ever letting the two of you watch Titanic ever again," he muttered under his breath, only to look up and see two angry girls glaring at him, before a torrent of cushions came flying straight for his head. "Ow!" He howled, as both girls burst into laughter, their tears instantly forgotten.

He looked at the girls and grinned, diving on top of them and tickling them both as they screamed for mercy, all three of them amazed at how well they were getting on, given what their backgrounds would have been at so many other schools, the jock, the drama geek and the nerd, the three of them only stopping what they were doing when they heard laughter in the doorway, and their heads shot up to see three figures stood in the entryway to the room, two of which were very familiar to Matt and Sassy.

"Uncle Ryan, Aunt Taylor!" Lilly-Ella screamed, pushing the stunned Matt and Sassy off of her, so that they fell into a heap on the floor, as she ran towards her 'Uncle' and her 'Aunt'.

"Hey Kitten," Ryan chuckled, wrapping his arms around the teenage girl, as he lifted her from the ground, laughing as she squealed and he placed her back on her feet, her arms instantly winding around Taylor.

"And what am I, chopped liver?" Troy muttered darkly, as Lilly-Ella and Taylor pulled away from each other laughing and eyed him up and down, looking back at one another again.

"Yep," They answered simultaneously, laughing even more as Troy started to do a fish impression, his mouth opening and closing, before he lunged forwards, and grabbed Lilly-Ella, tickling her and pulling her into a hug at the same time.

"I love you Daddy," she muttered, wrapping her arms tightly around him, and burying her face in his chest, before pulling away, a radiant smile filling her face.

"Yeah, I should think so," Troy laughed, before looking back at Sassy and Matt, who were now standing, watching the quartet in confusion, "Are you gonna make any introductions, or am I gonna have to ask them instead?" Troy questioned his daughter with a raised eyebrow, as she blushed, and moved back over to her friends, wrapping an arm around each of them.

"Daddy, this is my boyfriend Matt, and my friend Sassy, you guys, this is my Dad, Troy Bolton, and obviously you know Taylor Danforth, and Ryan Evans, my aunt and uncle," Lilly-Ella grinned at the staggered pair, before giggling, and pulling them into the kitchen, "I'm making chocolate sundaes for those who want them, whoever doesn't, well then your missing out!" She screamed through the house, and everyone laughed, the three adults slowly making their ways to the kitchen, Troy grinning at the fact that he now had two of his best friends back, who would look out for his daughter as well, and that his daughter was finally happy, knowing how difficult it had been for her at her old school in L.A., but as much as he tried to stop thinking about it, Troy couldn't help but wonder, just how long would this happiness last?

**Once again guys, I am so so so so sorry for leaving it this long, school and work have just taken over, but I'm hoping to have the next chapter out by the end of next week at the latest, and then my Christmas holidays start, from school at least, so please review and tell me what you thought of this one!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks for your reviews on the last chapter, anyway, here's chapter 10, I hope that you enjoy it, and please tell me what you think of it!**

**Chapter 10**

"Man oh man oh man, I love the beginning of basketball season!" Matt whooped joyfully as Lilly-Ella giggled softly in her seat, pulling her Redhawks jacket tighter around her, and adjusting her baseball cap slightly, the cheerleaders continuing their routines directly in front of where they were sitting, courtside, thanks to Troy being the new coach of the U of A Redhawks.

Sassy rolled her eyes slightly, as she glanced down at the basketball jersey that she was wearing, wrinkling her nose in horror, "I don't know how you can stand wearing stuff like this, and Matt, how the hell can you say something like that with your girlfriend sitting right beside you," Sassy sighed, glancing in disgust from the cheerleaders, back to Matt once more, her eyes bugging out when she saw his head flying between a tub of popcorn and a box of nachos, muttering over which one he should have first, as Sassy turned her incredulous gaze up to look at a chuckling Lilly-Ella. "I thought he'd be talking about the fact that he had scantily dressed women dancing in front of him, not about…FOOD!"

"You see, this is why I don't have to worry, I know that he only has eyes for me," Lilly-Ella grinned slightly, stretching her arms as she yawned, "Don't you Poster Boy?"

Matt's head whipped up at the sound of his name, "Huh?" He muttered sheepishly, swallowing his mouthful of popcorn before offering it to the laughing girls and slinging an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, his face tinged pink with the embarrassment of having been caught out.

"I can't believe that basketball season is back, finally!" The afro headed man grinned joyfully as he pulled his wife through the stadium to their seats, looking at her curiously when he noticed that she was gnawing on her bottom lip nervously, "Tay-Tay, are you already nervous? I mean the Redhawks are so gonna kick some ass tonight, just like ever, and apparently the new coach is working wonders with them, so there's no need to be nervous at all babe." Chad grinned, pulling Taylor tightly to his side as he kissed the top of her head, her shooting him a nervous smile as he once more started to pull her towards their seats, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, more excited than Taylor had seen him since he learnt that his very own team, the East High Wildcats were set to do better than they had in a long time this season.

"I can't believe that I got dragged to watch this smelly disgusting sport again this year!" A voice beside Taylor shrieked, and she turned her head to find Sharpay, still decked out in pink, including the sparkly pink high heels, her nose turned up in disgust, a dark eyed curly raven haired woman stood next to her, shaking as she tried desperately to smother her laughter, before turning to the petite brunette that was stood next to her, striking up a conversation with the old composer and her husband, both of who were excitedly awaiting the arrival of his brother and her brother-in-law onto the court respectfully, David Cross.

"What are you yelling about now Shar?" Zeke asked as he joined Jason's other side, immediately doing their secret handshake, before passing out the food that he had been ordered to get by the rest of the gang.

Pouting, Sharpay Baylor glanced woefully at her husband again, "Why do we have to be here Zekey? I mean it isn't like you have a brother on the team, for that matter, why do you need to be here, Gabs, and why are you here Ryan? I mean, we could be like shopping Gabs, and instead, I'm holed up here watching some sweaty men throw a ball around, and to make matters worse I'm married and they're too young for me anyway," Sharpay huffed as she folded her arms across her chest, the gang burst into laughter, except for Zeke, who only cleared his throat loudly, "Of course I mean no offence, honey," Sharpay grinned at Zeke, sickly sweet, which only fuelled the gangs' laughter even more.

"Shar, we're here to support David and Joe, I mean we've known them since they were like in diapers," Gabriella grinned, slinging an arm around her best friends' shoulders, gently tugging on a baseball cap in a remarkably similar way to a young girl sat right on the courtside.

"Yeah, and the two of them still owe me a pair of Jimmy Choo's from the ones they threw in the pool when they were four," Sharpay scowled, "So until they buy me another pair, I don't know what I'm doing here."

Ryan rolled his eyes, suddenly appearing on the other side of Chad, "Shar, get over it, it was sixteen years ago, and you had the same pair of shoes eight times over." The gang all burst into laughter once more at the new revelation as Sharpay only leaned back in her seat and pouted harder.

"Yeah, but they were my favourite ones!" She protested greatly, and another roar of laughter could be heard from her companions, as a lot of other spectators glanced at the group of friends, everyone waiting for the Redhawks to take to the court.

"Shar, if they were exactly the same, how did you know they were your favourites?" Kelsi questioned through her giggles, and for once, Sharpay looked fairly perplexed.

"Probably from the blood splatters on them," Ryan muttered underneath his breath so that only Chad and Taylor could hear, immediately setting the two off again.

"Whatever, I have to go the bathroom, ladies?" Sharpay questioned, immediately looking at the girls', Gabriella and Kelsi trailing after her as Taylor declined and stayed safely sitting down.

"And on that note, I need to go before the game too," Chad grinned, standing up as Taylor rolled her eyes, Zeke and Jason following him moments later, as Taylor turned her panicked eyes onto Ryan.

"Ryan, oh my G-d Ryan, what are we going to do? Oh my G-d if Chad sees Troy he'll kill him Ryan! What are we going to do? I've been trying to stop Chad from coming to the game all day but nothing worked! Even Joe tried, and I know that David tried to stop Jason, but they were too adamant that they'd never missed a Redhawks game, and weren't going to start now!" Taylor rattled off in one breath, her cheeks flushed and her eyes wide with panic as Ryan blinked slightly, before taking a hold of her forearms gently.

"First Tay, you need to calm down, you should have known that nothing would have stopped Chad or Jason coming to this game, come hell or high water," Ryan smiled lopsidedly at her, "Besides, Troy's a big boy, he knows how to handle himself, and the truth had to come out sooner or later, just look down there." Ryan pointed with his hand to the front of the stands, and immediately Taylor's eyes softened as she watched Matt feeding Lilly-Ella, before throwing some popcorn at Sassy, the couple bursting into laughter as Sassy started to screech, "Lilly-Ella's too much like Gabriella Taylor, Gabs is smart, she would figure it out eventually, maybe this way is better, then it isn't in anyone's control."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Taylor grinned, not once taking her eyes away from the trio at the bottom as an all out popcorn war started between them, their laughter reaching hers and Ryan's ears as the rest of the gang rejoined them, Chad sitting himself between Taylor and Ryan again.

"What are you guys watching?" Gabriella asked, straining her neck to see what they were looking at before laughing slightly. "Awww, they look so cute," She beamed, feeling her heart fill with warmth as she watched the trio.

"Who does?" Sharpay focused in on the trio as a grin spread across her face, watching Matt kiss Lilly-Ella sweetly while Sassy assaulted them both with popcorn, "Awww, that is really sweet, I wonder who they are."

"My students," Five voices answered simultaneously.

"Sassy Mitchell," Ryan smiled, "Is the blonde, they're all in my A.P. drama class."

"Yeah, they're a group of smart kids," Kelsi beamed, "G-d alone knows that they have talent in my A.P. music class, they're amazing when they put their minds together."

"The completely and utterly whipped guy is my basketball captain Matt Baker," Chad pointed out, "But I have all three of them for phys ed, and surprisingly the two girls are really good at basketball too," Chad yelped slightly as Taylor and Sharpay both leaned over to hit him over the side of the head.

"The dark haired girl just moved here from L.A. a few weeks back, she's just an absolute sweetheart," Gabriella grinned softly, and Ryan and Taylor exchanged looks, "Her name's Lilly-Ella Bolton and I have the joy of teaching the three of them for A.P. English, which I swear Sassy was gonna fail before Lilly-Ella joined the class and actually started to work with her, not for her."

"And I have all three of them for homeroom and A.P. Chemistry," Taylor grinned, "Definitely as unlikely a trio as I've ever seen."

"Yeah, and apparently they know you guys' brothers as well," Zeke entered with raised eyebrows, watching as both Joe and David hugged the girls before doing a secret handshake with Matt.

"Danforth, Cross, get your butts back in here now!" A voice yelled from the locker room, and both young men glanced up, hugging Lilly-Ella quickly one last time, David muttering something that made her laugh, before they both took off running for the locker room, shoving each other and laughing the entire way, obviously on a high.

"And now, introducing your University of Albuquerque Redhawks!" A voice suddenly boomed over the loudspeaker, causing the gang to leap to their feet and start cheering along with everyone else in the room, "And finally, I give you the Redhawks captains Joe Danforth and David Cross, as well as the person that you have all been waiting for, the new coach of the U of A Redhawks, many of you will have known him from his teenage years captaining the East High Wildcats, Mr Troy Bolton!" The voice roared, the entire crowd screaming with excitement as the entire gang paled, Ryan and Taylor wincing at the looks on each persons face.

"Oh my G-d," Gabriella muttered as she fell onto her seat, raising a shaking hand to her mouth, her eyes wide as a man that she hadn't seen in sixteen years suddenly crossed the court, shaking hands with the opponent teams coach before heading back the Redhawks to give them a quick pre game chat, looking up and grinning at the crowd as he did so.

"That complete and utter bastard," Chad snarled, glaring at the head on his ex-best friend, "What the hell gives him the right to come back here? He should've stayed away, and that's a lesson that I'll be sure to teach him myself as soon as the game is over," Chad clenched his hands into fists, his eyes never once leaving Troy's head as the gang nodded their agreement, Taylor and Ryan watching on with horror, their mouths dry as they fought the urge to throw up at the murderous looks now encasing their friends features, and Gabriella having becoming suddenly catatonic, the tears streaming down her face, her eyes never once leaving Troy, as Sharpay sat down beside her and wrapped an arm securely around her shoulders.

Troy beamed as he looked up at the scoreboard; the Redhawks had won their first game with him in charge, and not by only a small margin either. He grinned back at his team who were revelling in their win, the other team having skulked straight off to the locker rooms as soon as the stadium had started to empty, "Great game guys, hit the showers and I will see you tomorrow afternoon for training, so try not to get too hammered tonight," Troy grinned, rolling his eyes at them as he heard a chorus of 'yes coach', 'sure thing coach', and of course from Joe and David a 'I don't know what you mean coach.'

He grinned once more and glanced up at the scoreboard, shaking his head slightly as the door swung shut behind the last of his players, leaving Troy almost alone in the spacious stadium, as he picked up the ball and aimed it straight for the net, beaming even more as it flew straight through the rim, "Swish, swish," he muttered, completely oblivious to the eight souls that were watching him.

"Hey Bolton!" An angered voice yelled, and a confused Troy turned around, only to be met moments later by a fist straight in his face as the girls and Ryan gasped, both Taylor and Ryan hurrying to Troy's side as he fell backwards, the gang watching them in shock, "Taylor what the hell are you doing, leave the traitor alone and come back over here," Chad hissed in the same tone that he had used right before hitting his ex-best friend, glaring as Ryan helped Troy back onto his feet, the blonde mans' own glare slicing through Chad.

"What the hell was that for?!" Troy yelled, a glare fully fixated on Chad as Ryan tried to hold him back, but Troy shrugged him off effortlessly, and Ryan let him be, knowing that Troy wouldn't do anything to hurt the people that he still included as his family.

"For coming back Bolton, you're not welcome around here anymore!" Jason yelled, surging forwards, his fist clenched as Taylor leapt in front of Troy, "Get the hell out of my way Taylor, he's a self righteous bastard, who deserves everything that he has coming to him!"

"No, I won't move!" Taylor screamed, her arms still protectively out in front of Troy as he gently tried to move her to the side, "Don't you remember? This is your little brother that you're trying to kill here, and Troy, you shouldn't need any explanation as to why you can't fight, you need to be her role model Troy, you're all she has."

"That was a long time ago Taylor, long before the bastard left, he crushed our baby sister, or are you just forgetting that?" Zeke spat out, his and Sharpay's glares both causing Troy to wince as Gabriella studied him slightly, her head having shot up at the mention of 'her'.

"I won't fight Tay, I promise you that, I promised Lila a long time ago that I would never do anything to hurt her or that would make me leave her, and I intend to keep that promise," Troy muttered softly, and Taylor nodded, knowing she was the only one who had heard him.

The door to the changing rooms suddenly swung open, and Joe and David stepped out, perplexed looks covering their faces.

"Coach, what the hell is going on out here?" Joe questioned, before his eyes moved upwards to study his older brother and his friends, both younger men's mouths forming the perfect 'o' shapes as they each bordered their coaches sides, Joe next to Taylor and David next to Ryan.

"David, Joe, you have no idea what you're doing," Sharpay muttered darkly, watching the two young men, "This is Troy Bolton, the one who left us, and crushed Gabriella, you obviously won't remember him because you were only four when he took off and left."

"We remember him perfectly," David retaliated, Joe nodding as he folded his arms across his chest, "Troy would teach us basketball when you guys got sick of us so quickly, he just kept going, and he'd tease us endlessly about the bogeyman and how he was really real."

Chad and Jason shook their heads, disbelieving their little brothers, "No, this guy is a complete and total bastard who screwed us and Gabriella over."

"Ever thought that there are two sides to every story big brother?" Joe hissed, matching Chad's tone and glare perfectly.

"Not to this one there isn't," Jason scowled, as Chad, Zeke and Sharpay all started to throw insults at Troy as well, he who stood there and said nothing back, unable to hurt the ones that he still cared about.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Gabriella suddenly screamed, stunning the room into silence as the tears fell like waterfalls down her face, "I'm sorry Troy, I'm so, so sorry, for everything," She muttered, her voice breaking as Troy turned his hardened face on hers, no signs of forgiveness or mercy shining through for her previous actions at all.

"Gabriella, what the hell are you doing saying you're sor-," Chad started to spit out one sharp look from Gabriella stopping him in his tracks, as confusion spread across his face, thinking that he had only been trying to protect his baby sister.

"Like I said, I'm sorry, but if you had just-," Gabriella was abruptly cut off by the look of disbelief that rapidly spread across Troy's face, his head slowly shaking from side to side.

"No Gabriella, no way, you can not blame what happened on me. You were the one who told me to go, and I quote exactly what you said when our baby girl was only six hours old 'get that ugly little brat out of my sight' and so I took our gorgeous little girl and I left, like you wanted us to," Troy bellowed, glaring at Gabriella and the rest of the gang the whole time, as Gabriella looked at the floor in embarrassment and the rest of the gang looked at her in a horrified shock, Ryan and Taylor included as Troy had never told them the full story of what had happened on the fateful morning of eighth August two thousand and eight.

Hearing a gasp and a small whimper behind him, Troy whipped around to see his one and only baby girl standing there, his face instantly paling at the tears streaming down hers and at how distraught she looked, her blue eyes wider than saucers, with her new boyfriend and best friend flanking either side of her, their own eyes wide open in shock, with their mouths gaping slightly.

"Lilly-Ella I can ex-," Troy started, but she cut him off by shaking her head, moving backwards, before turning around and sprinting full speed out of the gym doors. "Lilly-Ella," Troy called after her, watching Matt, Sassy, Joe and David follow after her quickly, before whirling round to face Gabriella once more, a look of pure venom crossing his features, as his eyes darkened to a nearly black colour, "Look at what you've done now, don't you think you've caused her enough pain? For G-d's sake Gabriella, she grew up without a mother because of you," Troy hissed at the now sobbing brunette before turning and following his daughter out of the doors, desperate to reach her before she did anything stupid…

**Well that was it guys, I hope you liked it, and please review and tell me your thoughts! Hopefully I'll manage to get Chapter 11 up sometime in the week or so, depending on how much revision I can get done for my exams in two weeks time.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, anyway, here's chapter 11, I hope that you like it, and please review!**

**Chapter 11**

Gabriella soared down the highway, no idea as to where she was going, but the tears and the heavy rainfall obscuring her vision as the small black car hurtled further and further away from Albuquerque, away from the people that she had caused so much pain to.

After Troy had run after his – their – daughter, everyone had turned on her. Raising a shaking hand in an attempt to stop the steady stream of tears, Gabriella choked out a sob as her mind wandered to less than only a few hours earlier.

**Flashback**

**Watching Troy hurtle out of the room, the gang all turned to look at Gabriella, who avoided their gazes by suddenly finding the floor interesting, Taylor and Ryan stood at the back of the group of friends, itching to follow Troy in looking for their niece, but knowing in their heart of hearts that they should stay and diffuse the meltdown that was evidently about to happen in the gym first.**

"**Gabriella, can you please explain to us what the hell is going on?" Sharpay screeched, looking thoroughly irritated to be kept out of the loop, as Gabriella's tear stained face glance upwards, her eyes meeting the cold gazes of Taylor and Ryan.**

"**She's mine isn't she?" Gabriella whispered softly, her voice breaking as she thought of the further heartache that she had just unintentionally caused her little girl.**

**Both Taylor and Ryan sucked in a sharp breath, Taylor's face softening slightly as she nodded, "Yeah Gabriella, Lilly-Ella is that gorgeous little baby girl that you rejected all those years ago, and I hope to G-d that you regret that decision more than anything else in your life Gabriella, because she is a wonderful, kind, sweet young girl."**

"**WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!" Sharpay screamed as everyone's hands whipped up to cover their ears, and Gabriella's face turned to look at Sharpay, Chad, Zeke, Jason and Kelsi, all of who were looking painstakingly annoyed to not know what was going on.**

**Gabriella took a deep breath as she turned her head once more away from the gang, her face now awash with fresh tears as she recalled the day that she well and truly ruined her life and the best thing in it, "That girl Sharpay, the one that ran out of here sobbing, the one which we were calling sweet just before this game began, she's Troy's daughter," Gabriella whispered softly, and the entire gang gasped, shock flooding their features, "not only is she Troy's daughter, but, ummm… she ummm… she's my daughter too," Gabriella admitted quietly, her voice breaking as everyone's jaws dropped at the brand new revelation, "I… I told him to get out… I told him to take our daughter and…" Gabriella stopped suddenly, her hand flying to her mouth as she looked like she may throw up at any given moment, "I'm sorry, G-d I'm so sorry," She sobbed, her red rimmed eyes meeting the gangs once more, "I can't do this, I have to get out of here," Gabriella muttered rapidly, turning on her heel and fleeing out of the door which her daughter had left through less than a half hour ago, the screams of the gang ringing through her ears.**

**End Flashback**

That had been an hour and a half ago, and so far, Gabriella had no plans of slowing down as she ran further than she'd gone before, heading northward toward her Aunt Sophie's house in Lexington, Nebraska, not caring about how long it would take her to get there, but knowing that her Aunt Sophie was the only one that knew everything, right from the first moment that Gabriella and Troy themselves had found out they were going to be parents, right through Gabriella's pregnancy, and then her depression, the only thing that had kept her going when she finally realised the scale of the damage that her depression had caused her, losing the love of her life and her baby girl, and now, the only person that would be able to understand the new dilemma that was rearing its' ugly head in Gabriella's life once more.

Suddenly, Gabriella heard a loud popping noise and felt the car skid on the road, completing a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn, with herself sat inside, eyes squeezed tightly shut, screaming for dear life.

Opening her eyes once more, Gabriella sighed as she glanced out of the side window onto the deserted highway, wondering how the hell she would find help with the weather as bad as it was, jumping slightly as a lightening bolt streaked across the night sky, illuminating all that was around her, before the darkness settled in once more, the thunder rumbling loudly overhead.

Sighing once more, Gabriella looked up out of her windshield to find herself looking into a pair of startled blue eyes, the size of saucers. Automatically, she started to reach to undo her seatbelt, never letting her own chocolate coloured eyes detach from the sapphire ones, as she slowly heaved herself out of the car, ignoring the fact that she was drenched instantly from the heavy downpour, her eyes focused on one thing, and one thing only, the petite blue eyed girl shivering from the cold and drenched through from the rain, her own tears streaming down her face as she stared up at the face of the one she should have called Mommy…

**Well, that was Chapter 11, I know it was short, but hopefully Chapter 12 will be longer, and it will hopefully be up in the next few days, I hope that you liked this chapter, and please review and tell me what you thought!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks so so so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter, I am so sorry that I haven't been able to update in so long, but thankfully my exams and projects are all finished once more for now, so hopefully I'll manage to update more often, anyway, here's chapter 12, I hope that you like it and please review!**

**Chapter 12**

The two women stared at each other for a period of time, neither feeling the rain that pounded down on their skin, or hearing the wind that howled all around them. The two pairs of eyes just holding each others gaze, Lilly-Ella's Redhawks hoodie now soaked through, her long curls flattened from the rain as she shivered violently, her Redhawks cap having been lost somewhere along her route.

The flash of lightening across the sky followed swiftly by the rumble of thunder startled both women into action as a nearby tree to Lilly-Ella suddenly started to creak, the old trunk unable to hold up the heavy branches anymore as it tumbled over to the side, heading straight for Lilly-Ella, who screamed and closed her eyes, horror painting itself on Gabriella's face, before she was startled into action, feeling an instinct that she had only felt for a fleeting instant with her little girl as she raced around the car, her heart thumping in her ears as she shoved Lilly-Ella to the ground, protectively covering her baby girl with her own body, out of the way of the tree, as it crashed to the ground at Gabriella's own feet.

Feeling her shaking daughter below her, Gabriella slowly started to sit up, pulling Lilly-Ella onto her lap as both of them cried tears of anguish, Lilly-Ella's small hands clutching tightly onto the material of Gabriella's hoodie, her head buried into the crook of her mother's neck, Gabriella peppering kisses to the top of her daughters head, before laying her head on top of the young girl's, gently rocking them from side to side as they continued to sob for what felt like hours.

Regardless of how long it felt to the two of them, a short while later, a beat up old truck pulled up beside them, an older couple looking on at the pair of them in worry, as they slowly opened the door to their truck and the woman stepped out, an umbrella surrounding her in a futile attempt to shield her from the cold wind and the furious rain, her husband following quickly with his jacket pulled up over his head as they took quick strides towards the two young women at the side of the road.

"Ma'am, Ma'am, are you alright?" The man asked in worry, creases appearing on his kind face as the rain battered against it, but his eyes never left Gabriella and Lilly-Ella, as the older of the pair glanced up at the old couple, obviously scanning them quickly to make sure that they were alright, while the younger only buried herself deeper into her mother's lap.

Shaking her head slowly, Gabriella looked up at the concerned pair, blinking against the heavy downpour as she pulled Lilly-Ella tighter towards her, "No, we were heading for Nebraska when our car broke down, and we realised that neither of us have our cell phones with us and that there aren't any payphones around here." Biting her lip, Gabriella felt Lilly-Ella nod into her neck, showing that she would go along with the recently concocted story of where they were supposed to be heading.

"Yeah, that was a pretty stupid question," The woman smiled softly, before turning to glare at her husband, who only shrugged slightly with a smile, turning back to the two women, a small smile fleeted across her face again, "Is there anything we can do, because I think that it is highly unlikely that any mechanic is going to come this far, this late at night, or in this weather."

Feeling her daughter shiver once more, Gabriella started to vigorously rub her hands up and down the young girls arms, trying anything to keep her even a little warm, "Yeah, umm, if you don't mind, could you give us a ride, I mean, only if you're heading north, I used to do this drive every other month or so with an old boyfriend, and there's an old inn about a half hour away in that direction."

"Sure, it's the least that we can do," the man smiled again softly, before turning and jogging back to the beat up truck, pulling the door wide open, and beckoning for Gabriella, Lilly-Ella and his wife to get in.

Running for the truck, Gabriella suddenly stopped, and headed for the trunk of her own car, turning only when she noticed that Lilly-Ella had stopped as well, "Go on Lilly-Ella, I just need to get something from my car, I'll be there in just a minute," Gabriella encouraged with a warm smile, despite the fact that she was shivering violently from the cold.

"You promise?" Lilly-Ella asked so timidly and shakily, that most people would have missed it, but Gabriella heard her daughter loud and clear, and stared straight back into the baby blue eyes that so much resembled those of the man she still loved.

"I promise baby girl," she whispered back, and taking one last look at each other, the two women took off in opposite directions, Lilly-Ella diving into the dry truck as soon as she reached it, and turning around just in time to see her mother heading back for the truck, a duffel bag clutched tightly in her hand as a small smile started to spread over the petite brunette's face, and her sapphire eyes started to dimly twinkle once more.

Reaching the fairly large inn within the half hour that Gabriella had predicted, a smile appeared on the three older occupants of the truck as the light from the inn windows flooded out over the road and the surrounding area, offering a little hope in the dark, gloomy night.

Looking down at her daughter, Gabriella smiled softly to see that she was asleep, her head resting comfortably on Gabriella's arm as her chest gently rose up and down with her light breathing, turning her head slightly, Gabriella placed a kiss to Lilly-Ella's forehead, and grinned as she saw the young girl's face scrunch up in her sleep.

"We can watch the little one while you go in and see if there are any rooms available if you like," The older woman whispered softly in the calmness of the truck, a complete contrast to the raging storm outside.

"Thanks Joyce," Gabriella smiled, slowly leaning Lilly-Ella back against the seat, "I'll hopefully be back in just a minute, I wouldn't have thought that they would have to many bookings at this time of year," Smiling once more at her daughter and the older couple, Gabriella flicked her hood over her already drenched hair, and made a quick run for the inn door.

"Hi, umm, I was wondering if you had two single rooms available, only for the one night?" Gabriella questioned a bored looking receptionist, as the woman typed something into her computer, only sparing Gabriella a small, disdainful look.

"Why are you getting two rooms?" A small voice behind Gabriella enquired, and Gabriella whipped around to see her daughter stood behind her, still looking sleepy, and pretty much drowned from the rain outside, "I don't wanna be by myself, not with weather like this," The young girl whispered timidly, her eyes wide with fright, as Gabriella held her arm out, and Lilly-Ella quickly ran for the safety of them.

"I'm sorry, can I change that to one twin room?" Gabriella asked sweetly, and Lilly-Ella covered her head to stop her laughter as the receptionist shot Gabriella an 'are you kidding me' look, before letting out an angry breath and retyping information into the computer.

Finally sorting out their room, Gabriella and Lilly-Ella bid a fond farewell to the older couple, making them promise to visit the next time they were in Albuquerque, before retreating to their room, where Lilly-Ella took a shower, and Gabriella made an important phone call

"How did you know that I was heading for Nebraska?" Lilly-Ella questioned as she came to sit beside Gabriella on the bed, now clad in Gabriella's grey sweats, and bright pink hoodie, a present from Sharpay, of course.

Gabriella sighed softly, placing the hotel room phone back onto its' stand, and sitting back against the headboard as she studied her daughter closely, noting how her nose scrunched up in confusion, just like her own when she didn't understand something, but also noticing how her mouth was curved into a funny sort of half smile, a gesture that her ex-boyfriend had normally done whenever he was confused, and observing for the first time just how much older than her sixteen years of life that her daughter actually looked.

Reaching out, Gabriella gently tucked the free flowing lock of her daughter's hair back behind her ear, smiling slightly as she brought her hand to cup Lilly-Ella's cheek, and the young girl leaned into it. "I had no idea that that was where you were heading, it was where I was going, but how did you get to that point, that was two and a half hours outside of Albuquerque, and I didn't see another car anywhere around?"

Blushing slightly, Lilly-Ella looked away, and mumbled something under her breath that immediately caused Gabriella's eyebrow to quirk up as she gazed curiously at Lilly-Ella.

"Can you repeat that please?" Gabriella asked calmly, hoping that the words that she had thought had just come out of her daughter's mouth were some sort of sick joke that her imagination was playing on her.

"Umm, I really don't want to," Lilly-Ella blushed harder, suddenly finding counting the number of floorboards a very interesting task.

"Lilly-Ella," Gabriella muttered sharply, "What did you do to get out here?"

"I hitchhiked with some trucker guys," The younger Latina mumbled, wincing as she saw her mother's face turn red as Gabriella leapt up from her seat on the edge of the bed.

"WHAT? Lilly-Ella, what the hell were you thinking? You could have been seriously hurt, you didn't even know who these people were did you?" Seeing Lilly-Ella shake her head slightly, Gabriella could feel her anger grow, "What do you think that we would have done without you, huh? What about your Dad or Matt and Sassy? Did you not even think of them? Or what about me? I haven't had the chance to get to know you before now Lilly-Ella, and if something had happened to you, I would never have gotten that chance!"

Lilly-Ella's head snapped up as she stood up to glare at Gabriella, "Yeah, and whose fault would that have been?" She roared in a voice that rivalled her mother's from only minutes earlier, "You were the one that passed me off to Dad because you didn't want me, and you were the one who didn't bother to look for us for the last sixteen years!"

Both women were breathing heavily as they stared at each other, both of their anger slowly ebbing as they realised how alike they both were. Gabriella was the first one to break the stare as she sighed and looked down, "Ok, I know that I deserved that one, and I am sorry Lilly-Ella, I am so sorry for everything that I've done in the past, and I know that that doesn't ever excuse what I did, and I did look for the pair of you, for the past fourteen years, but it's kind of difficult to find you when I didn't know your name and your Dad was using a fake one."

"Fair enough," Lilly-Ella breathed out, a small smile appearing on her face as she sunk back onto the bed, Gabriella sinking down beside her, "Although all debt would be forgiven if you bought me a Mercedes," she grinned cheekily at Gabriella.

Snorting slightly, Gabriella wrapped one arm around her daughter and started to twirl one of her curls around her finger, "Keep dreaming kiddo, I'm on a teachers salary here you know," The two women chuckled softly, and sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until a confused look passed over Gabriella's face, "Lilly-Ella why were you heading for Nebraska?"

Sitting up so that she could look Gabriella in the eye once more, Lilly-Ella let out a deep sigh, "I was heading for Lexington, it's where my great Aunt Sophie lives, and I dunno, I've always felt really close to her for some reason."

Gabriella blinked slowly, "Your great Aunt Sophie, from Lexington, Nebraska?" Lilly-Ella nodded, and Gabriella let out a slightly frustrated laugh, "Did Troy tell you she was his aunt?" Once more the young girl nodded, and Gabriella shook her head slightly, "Nope, that's my Aunt Sophie, she was the only one who supported my pregnancy with you, she's really more of an older sister to me though," Gabriella mused almost silently, "She fell out with my Mom, your Grandmother, a long time ago over the matter of me getting pregnant at such an early age, and then she was the only one who new about my post natal depression as well, I can't believe that she knew where you were all this time, she even supposedly helped me to look for the pair of you," Gabriella blew out a mildly irritated breath, as a sharp laugh came from the girl sat beside her.

"Yeah, well I begged her to tell me about you, and she never would, said that she never really met you," Lilly-Ella snorted in an all too familiar way, before leaning back on the headboard again, "I can't believe she played us."

"I can't say that I'm really that surprised," Gabriella grinned, placing a small kiss to her daughter's forehead, "now get some sleep, we have a long hike back to the car and then a mechanic to wait for before we can head home in the morning." Laughing at a groaning Lilly-Ella, Gabriella reached of and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness, apart from the occasional flash of lightening from outside.

"Hey Mom?" A little voice murmured into the darkness, and a smile broke out on Gabriella's face hearing that phrase directed at herself, but she didn't say anything, hearing a slight sigh, before she felt two arms wrap themselves tightly around her, "I love you."

Gabriella's smile grew even more as she pulled her daughter tighter to her, "I love you too Sunshine more than anything in this world."

**Well guys, that was Chapter 12, I hope you liked it, and once again I'm sorry for not updating sooner, please review, and hopefully, I'll have chapter 13 out soon.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, I am so sorry for not updating sooner, just when I had a few chapters written, my brother managed to get a virus on the computer and I lost everything, but I've finished the story now and the computer's finally fixed, it's just going to take some time to get all of the updates typed up, anyway, once more I'm sorry for the wait, but here's chapter 13, so please read it and tell me what you think!**

**Chapter 13**

Pressing the end call button on his phone, Troy let it fall to the ground as his heavy head fell into his shaking hands, everyone in the crowded front room watching the young man closely, as a sense of relief flooded the room with the slight nod of his head, "She's safe," he murmured, a small smile breaking out on his face, "She's safe," he repeated softly, running one hand through his mop of hair, before glancing back at everyone else once more, "She's with Gabriella, apparently both of them had the same idea of heading for Aunt Sophie in Nebraska, but Gabriella's car broke down, and for some reason and some stroke of luck, where she stopped on the road was where Lilly-Ella was."

"She's safe?" Taylor questioned, standing up from her position on the couch and walking towards Troy, a grin forming on his face as he nodded, picking Taylor up and swinging her round, both of them laughing with relief.

"Thank G-d for that," Ryan breathed out, as he hugged Troy quickly, running his eyes up and down the blue eyed man, "I was worried that you were going to lose your mind."

"I did lose my mind Ry," Troy smiled softly, glancing at the faces of all of the people who had crammed into the room and realising that even though the majority of the people in the room 'hated' him at the present time, they had all genuinely come through for him and were there for him when he needed them. Troy's eyes gradually drank in the features of everyone in the room, his stare falling on the mocha eyes of his ex-best friend, both men holding each other's gazes for only a minute, before they were both pulled together in a hug, Troy silently thanking Chad for being the one to get everyone organised over the course of the night, where Troy himself was falling apart, and get teams together to search for Lilly-Ella, pulling away, both men smiled once more, as Chad patted Troy on the shoulder once more, and everyone in the room grinned at the reconnected best friends, despite the large bruise forming on Troy's face, where Chad had punched him earlier in the evening. "But, I know that Gabriella will take care of Lilly-Ella until the morning, so for now, she's safe, and that is all that will ever matter to me."

"Right, well then I'm staying here until tomorrow Troy, and you're not getting an option," Ryan grinned impishly at Troy, as the blue eyed man just chuckled softly, shaking his head slightly, as the past years flashed through his mind, where Ryan had decided to take on a full 'big brother' role to him, "And I somehow have a funny feeling that the majority of people in this room are going to want to stay, so it's a damn good thing that you bought a big house," Ryan grinned again, as the laughter roared through the room, and everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

Kelsi smiled tenderly, her gaze flickering over to the two teenagers now sat on the couch, Sassy's head resting against Matt's shoulder, both of their eyes flickering softly, a contented smile playing on their lips at the feel of both belonging to some sort of family for the first time in years for Matt, and the first time in her life for Sassy.

Looking back up at all of the chatting, beaming adults, finally getting to know one another again after sixteen long years, Sharpay currently holding Troy in a death grip as Zeke and Jason laughed at him, Kelsi beamed herself, before clearing her throat, causing everyone to glance at her, as she motioned with her head to the dozing teenagers on the couch.

Sharpay smiled softly as she released Troy, "Yeah, we should probably get them home, I can take them if you guys want, I mean you guys were out searching all night, and you just had me sitting by the phone in case she called, so it's only fair," Sharpay watched all of the others debating it in their own minds, as Troy walked slowly over to the sleeping pair, attempting to rouse them from their sleep.

"Come on guys," Troy smiled affectionately, gently shaking the two teenagers who he had grown so close to over the past few weeks, "Sharpay's gonna take you home."

Hearing those words slip from Troy's mouth, Sassy's head immediately snapped up, her emerald eyes turning sharp as she glared at Troy and shook her head, "No. No way am I leaving, I need to see that Lilly-Ella's fine, with my own eyes, she's the only family I feel that I have," Sassy's voice cracked, and everyone I the room couldn't help but feel their hearts break a little for the tough girl who suddenly seemed so vulnerable, "And if you try to make us leave, I'll just get Matt to drive us up to the lodge that they're staying in, I mean, it's not like I have any parental supervision at home anyway," Sassy's glare hardened once more, her eyes flickering around each of the adults in the room, Matt nodding in agreement with her.

"Troy ran his hands over his face, sighing in aggravation, "Fine, you can both stay here, but Matt, I want you to phone your grandparents and let them know where you are, and Sassy, I want you to come help me in the kitchen a minute please, there's something that I want to run by you."

Both teenagers nodded, Matt gratefully accepting the phone from Zeke, the two of them wandering into the hallway for some privacy, Sassy glumly standing and following Troy into the kitchen, everyone she passed giving her a reassuring smile, as she herself was positive that Troy would call her out for being a 'bad influence' on Lilly-Ella and ban the two from seeing each other after tomorrow, all thanks to Sassy's attitude.

Stepping into the kitchen, Troy turned to face the blonde who was meekly following behind him and smiled softly, "Look Sassy-"

Before Troy could get any further, a little voice cut him of, "Mr Bolton, I know that you think that I'm a bad influence on Lilly-Ella, it doesn't surprise me," Sassy sighed softly, and Troy raised his eyebrows in shock, but Sassy was still watching the ground, and continued without once looking up into the sapphire eyes that resembled those of her friend so closely, "But please don't make me stop seeing her, she's changing me into a better person, and I promise that I'm trying, but Lilly-Ella's amazing, and she's brought me Matt as well, I never even had one friend before, but now I have two who are more like a brother and sister to me than just friends, so please don't make me leave them."

Seeing tears mark the kitchen floor, Troy moved closer to Sassy, and comforted her quietly, "Can I say something now please?" He questioned, and Sassy nodded softly, "I wasn't going to ask you to stay away from Lilly-Ella Sassy, you're one of the best things that has ever happened to her, you're bringing her out of her shell," Sassy's head shot up to look at Troy, her eyes growing as wide as saucers, his hushed chuckle filling the air, "What I was going to say is that I know that you and Lilly-Ella have become like sisters, and I was wondering, if you wanted to move in here permanently, over the last few weeks Sass, I've already started to think of you as another daughter, you're here so often anyway, and I hate the thought of you going back to that huge empty house, alone and unhappy, so if your parents give the go ahead, what do you say?"

"Seriously?" Sassy asked in shock.

Troy laughed once more, "Serious as serious can be Sassy."

"I would love that," a slow grin spread over her face, "I would live here like always, with Lilly-Ella and you?"

"At least until you go to college, and if you want to stay around here for college, you would be more than welcome to stay," Troy smiled at the growing join on the young girl's face, stumbling slightly as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sassy squealed, the two of them laughing as he twirled her around, turning to the laughter coming from the doorway, and grinning at everyone else stood there, Troy motioning for all of them to come and grab one of the mugs of hot chocolate that he had just finished making, before they all retreated back to the living room once more.

"So Troy," Kelsi smiled softly as he looked up from his conversation with Matt and Sharpay, "How the hell did you manage to raise such a well adjusted, sweet child at eighteen? I mean I still don't feel ready to raise a child now at thirty two, but I'm slowly coming round to the idea," Kelsi beamed as she patted Jason's knee, he who had just turned incredibly pale, as everyone roared with laughter.

"I'm not going to lie to you guys, it wasn't easy, especially in the beginning," Troy sighed softly, placing his hot chocolate in the table in front of him, his eyes clouding over with the not so happy memories of Lilly-Ella's early childhood.

Chad sighed softly, glancing at his old friend guiltily as he backed up slowly, colliding with the table behind him and sending a small oak patterned box tumbling to the floor, the lid flying open as it did so, a haunting melody filling the entire room as everyone stopped to stare at the box, Troy's head snapping up as one specific vivid memory suddenly filled his head and thoughts of his missing little girl once again clouded his mind.

**Flashback**

**"Come on Lilly-Ella, Daddy's tired baby," Troy moaned as he dragged himself out of bed, shuffling across to the crib that was situated right by his bed and gazing down at the howling baby through sleepy eyes, "Shush Lila, I'm here sweetie," Troy whispered, gently stroking her curls as her big, baby blue, tear filled eyes gazed back up at him, her howls quieting slightly as she started to whimper.**

**Sighing slightly, Troy bent down and picked up the two month old, cradling her in his arms as he moved across the tiny room, and bent down beside her little oak music box, which he had found in a local store right after they had moved to L.A., stars engraved into the top of it, with a heart surrounding the words 'Daddy's little girl', as he gently wound up the music, cradling Lilly-Ella's head too him tenderly as the music started to drift out from the box, and Troy started a gentle waltz around the room, singing the words to his little baby as her whimpers continued to soften.**

**You're the end of the rainbow,  
My pot of gold,  
You're daddy's little girl  
To have and hold.  
A precious gem  
Is what you are,  
You're daddy's bright  
And shining star.**

**Smiling at her, Troy gently swayed them around the room that made up their entire 'apartment', completely ignoring the fact that the place was bare to furniture apart from his bed, a crib and a chest of drawers to hold all of their clothes.**

**He beamed at his baby girl, as she stared back up at him, raising one hand to his chest, her little fingers running up and down it as he laughed softly, continuing to dance them around as Lilly-Ella slowly began to calm down, the tears no longer spilling from her eyes, as she watched her father in fascination, his singing soothing her instantaneously.**

**You're the spirit of Christmas,  
My star on the tree,  
You're the Easter bunny  
To me.  
You're sugar you're spice,  
You're everything nice,  
And you're daddy's little girl.**

**Troy frowned slightly as he had to change some of the lyrics, deliberately leaving out 'mommy', but the happiness shone through on his face as he thought of their first Christmas together, coming up in a little under two months. Although he had no money to his name, Troy was determined to make his baby's first Christmas a special one, the only problem being that he was in a strange city still, he still hadn't managed to navigate around L.A. and he'd been there for two months, he and Lilly-Ella lived in an incredibly bad neighbourhood, so much so that no one went outside after nightfall, and his parents had refused to help him out money wise. Even though they loved Lilly-Ella from the moment that they had set eyes on her, and often sent her presents, mainly stuffed animals, they still refused to help Troy out with money or help directly, as they claimed that Lilly-Ella was his responsibility, not theirs, they had raised their son, and were done with having kids.**

**You're the end of the rainbow,  
My pot of gold,  
You're daddy's little girl  
To have and hold.  
A precious gem  
Is what you are,  
You're daddy's bright  
And shining star.**

**Still dancing, Troy grinned as Lilly-Ella's eyes once more drooped, he skirted around a wet patch in the floor, glancing up only quickly to the leaky roof that had supposedly been fixed two weeks ago, but stood here, dancing and singing to his infant daughter, the entire world seemed to float away, the grey walls and grey worn through carpet with the draughty windows letting in every ounce of cold air vanished, only to be filled with vibrant colours and warmth as Troy continued to hold his little one close to himself.**

**You're the treasure I cherish  
So sparkling and bright,  
You were touched by the holy  
And beautiful light.  
Like angels that sing,  
A heavenly thing,  
And you're daddy's little girl.**

**Noticing Lilly-Ella sleeping soundly in his arms once more, Troy walked over to the music box and shut the lid; perching on the edge of his bed as all of the memories of the past few months came flooding back, tears springing to his eyes.**

**Troy watched his infant daughter sleep as he held her tightly to his chest, tear tracks making their way down his cheeks and splashing onto the bed covers below, every so often, one would hit the miniature pink bundle in his arms and Lilly-Ella would wrinkle her nose slightly in her sleep.**

**"I love you so much my baby girl, I really do, you are my everything Lila," Troy whispered, one finger gently stroking the baby's cheek and his tears continued, his voice breaking, and his chest heaving up and down as he started to sob, "I just don't know if I'm what's best for you, and I only want you to have the best, my little princess," Troy's sobs hardened, as he raised the baby to his face, and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, "But I promise you, I will find you a nice family who can do everything for you, it's the least I can do, my baby girl."**

**Still sobbing, Troy gently moved the pair of them backwards on the bed, rocking Lilly-Ella slightly as she started to stir, before lying down himself, holding the baby close to him as he joined her in the world of slumber, the tears on his cheeks still multiplying.**

**End Flashback**

"That was at my lowest point," Troy muttered softly, staring at the ground, clasping and unclasping his hands as he did so, "I got to just outside the local social services building the next day, but then, I looked at my baby, and I…I…I just couldn't do it, she was my little girl, she is my little girl, and I couldn't just leave her hanging," Troy's voice broke, and he buried his face in his hands, remembering possibly the worst night of his life, as he felt two arms wrap around him, and glanced through slightly red eyes to see Taylor sat at one side, her arms tightly around him, and Ryan at his other side, one hand clasped comfortingly on his shoulder.

"You never told me that Troy, and I wish that you had," Ryan sighed softly, cutting Troy off when he opened his mouth once more to talk, "I know that you felt that you couldn't, but I came back into your life two years after that, and I would have loved to have been the first to tell you that you made the right decision completely. I mean, I saw the way that that little two year old girl looked at you and you at her, I've never seen so much love between a parent and child before, you two are just so close, it's the same right up to this very day, Lilly-Ella doesn't care if you have a lot of money, and can give her the world, all she cares about is that you are here, with her, and tomorrow, she will be right back where she belongs again, with you, home."

"Yeah," Troy whispered, realising that unlike when he had that tiny baby, he was no longer alone in raising her, he had people who loved both him and Lilly-Ella back in their lives now, "Home."

**Well guys that was it, please review and tell me what you thought, once more I am so sorry for the delayed update, but now it's only a matter of trying to get all of the chapters typed up and posted, but I also managed to get a few oneshots written while my computer was down, so please look out for those and review them as well!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks for all of your reviews from the last chapter, anyway, here's chapter 14, I hope that you like it, and please review to tell me your thoughts.**

**Chapter 14**

Early the next morning, the door to the Bolton household swung open, and excitable Lilly-Ella stepping through, with an extremely nervous Gabriella following after her daughter, although she couldn't help but laugh at the childish behaviour that Lilly-Ella had displayed all morning, desperate to make sure that her Dad and her friends were ok.

"Dad! Hello, anyone home?" Lilly-Ella yelled, and Gabriella once again started laughing, not having expected such a loud voice from her petite daughter, as the scarping of chairs and running feet were heard.

Troy sprinted into the room, skidding to a halt as both he and Lilly-Ella stared at each other for a good five minutes, before she hurtled into his arms and he wrapped them securely around her, closing his eyes in thanks that she was truly safe, "Don't you ever, ever do something like that to me again Lila, I have never ever been more scared in my life baby girl," Troy muttered, holding Lilly-Ella's face between his hands as he looked her directly in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Lilly-Ella whimpered, burying her head in Troy's chest as she started to cry once more, Troy closing his eyes as he pulled her tightly to him, gently rocking the pair of them, kissing her head, before pushing her away and gently tucking her hair behind her ears, wiping away her tears softly and smiling at her, Lilly-Ella's shoulders still shaking slightly with sobs.

"Don't be sorry Lila, I'm the one who should be sorry, I should have been honest with you, especially as you're getting older, but to me, your always gonna be my baby girl, so it's gonna take some adjusting to, alright?" Troy asked, beaming as Lilly-Ella giggled softly through her tears, nodding slightly, "Oh, and by the way, thanks to you, I was stuck with these bozos all night long," Troy rolled his eyes, laughing as a yell went up from behind him, Lilly-Ella shrieking with laughter as Matt, Sassy, Joe, David, Taylor and Ryan suddenly grabbed her in a hug, the seven of them all laughing as they fell into a heap on the ground.

Troy gently stepped back, still chuckling as his head swivelled towards the raven haired woman now stood next to him, as he studied Gabriella, Troy noticed that she hadn't changed much, she still scrunched her nose up as she laughed, her eyes still lit up in the same sort of way, only there appeared to be something that he couldn't quite tell rimming her eyes, hurt maybe?

"Thank you Gabriella," He whispered softly, and immediately, she stopped laughing, the other people in the room being drowned out as she stared at him, confusion etched upon her face, "You kept her safe, you looked after her when G-d alone knows what would have happened to her if she had stayed out there all alone," Troy smiled fleetingly at her, before turning back to everyone else, the gang now trying to help Taylor, Chad, and the younger five up from the floor, unsuccessfully, as they kept tumbling back down on top of one another, still laughing.

"Of course I kept her safe Troy," Gabriella murmured quietly, and his head snapped back around to look at her, "She's still my daughter, Troy, even if I haven't been involved in her life, but to be honest, that thought kills me more than anything, to think of the experiences that o could have had with her if I would have just been around for you both."

"It isn't too late to create memories with her Gabriella, she's a great kid, and she's exactly that still, a kid, one who still needs both of her parents," Troy laughed as he watched Matt toss a screaming Lilly-Ella over his shoulder, heading for the swimming pool, "But you were right yesterday, Gabriella, I should have stuck around to find out what was going on with you, I should have known that you wouldn't leave us like that," Troy sighed softly, looking at the ground, before her voice once more brought her out of his trance once more.

"Yeah, I think that you were right Troy," Gabriella exhaled, "I had no right in blaming you, none at all. You just did exac-."

"Yo, Hoops, come on, we're gonna have a games tournament on your Wii, cause your daughter seems to think that she's some sort of Champion," Chad grinned excitedly, running back into the living room as Lilly-Ella's screams of "I am a Champion" flowed through the house, followed rapidly by her laughter bouncing off of the walls.

"Yeah, ummm, I should really get going home too," Gabriella smiled softly at Troy, her hand reaching for the door knob, confusion etching itself back into her features as a bigger hand suddenly clasped around her own.

"Stay," he whispered softly, his tormented azure eyes staring into her equally tormented chocolate eyes, "Please stay Ella, everyone wants you here, it's a great chance to get to know your daughter more, Lilly-Ella wants you here," he whispered both of their eyes widening as he called her the nickname that she hadn't heard in sixteen long years, "I want you here."

Troy turned and walked towards the living room where he could hear everyone arguing over who was going first, his thoughts cemented on his ex-lover, still stood at his front door, a smile gracing his features as he heard footsteps behind him, holding the door open for her, she ducked underneath his arm, blushing slightly, and Troy couldn't help but wonder, was he falling for her yet again, and how was that possible after everything that they had bee through?

**I hope that you guys liked it, please review and tell me what you thought, and the next chapter should be up on Friday or Saturday!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks for your reviews on the last chapter, sorry about being late on posting this one, life's been crazy, anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and please review!**

**Chapter 15**

Glancing around the room and laughing as Lilly-Ella's go-kart zoomed past Chad and Ryan's, his daughter screaming as it did so, while Chad and Ryan yelled in horror, all three of them leaping to their feet, everyone else in the room staring at them as though they'd gone mad, Matt trying to pull Lilly-Ella back onto his lap, Troy noticed that there was someone missing, someone he still had to talk to seriously.

Sighing, he looked up and out of the window, a grin forming over his face. His eyes drinking in the sight of the dark haired beauty, the moonlight bouncing off of her hair as she sat on the edge of his pool, gently swaying her feet back and forth in the shimmering water.

Glancing around the room once more to find everyone still immersed in the game, Matt, Lilly-Ella and Taylor starting up another round as Chad and Ryan sulked at having just been beaten by a teenage girl, Troy slowly rose to his feet and headed out of the door, completely oblivious to the blonde haired woman and teenager watching him, before grinning at each other, their eyes slowly sliding over to the back window as Troy approached Gabriella.

"Can I take a seat?" Troy asked softly, smiling gently at Gabriella as she jumped and turned slightly to look at him, "Sorry."

The black haired beauty shook her head softly, smiling back at him, "No, don't be, I was just deep in thought," She smiled faintly at him once more, looking back over the swimming pool, "and besides, why are you the one asking to sit here? I mean I'm the one who took over your pool."

Chuckling lightly, Troy rolled his jeans up to his knees and sat down beside Gabriella, both of them stiffening, their eyes widening, breath catching in their throats as their hands brushed softly, realising how close they were to one another as they both felt the spark shoot through their bodies, "It's still there," the two of them whispered at the same time, before smiling at each other sheepishly, Gabriella blushing and turning away, while Troy raised a hand to the back of his neck.

"You did good Troy," She beamed at him, "No actually, you did amazing, she's a beautiful, talented girl," Gabriella smiled softly; glancing through the window, where Lilly-Ella was doing yet another victory dance, and everyone else was laughing.

"Yeah, I just can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had raised her like the great team we once were," Troy muttered quietly, watching as Lilly-Ella was dog piled by a laughing Matt, Joe and David, with a screaming Sassy being pulled onto the pile too.

Biting her lip, Gabriella slid her eyes across to watch him as he shredded a piece of paper between his fingers, a hard look set onto his face. Sighing slightly, her eyes once more found the rippling water, "Troy…" She breathed out softly, but was abruptly cut off by her ex-boyfriend.

"It hurt Gabriella," Troy whispered, his voice cracking as his eyes were frozen to the pool, "I loved you so damn much that I wanted to be with you forever and when you told me to get out, and to take our baby with me, G-d, I felt like I was breaking into millions of different pieces."

Feeling a small hand on his arm, Troy glanced to his right to see a pair of chocolate coloured eyes staring straight into his sapphire ones, tears shimmering in them, as his own streamed down his face, the barriers that he had put up for so many years no longer holding them back.

Troy felt himself be pulled to the side as his head automatically fell into the crook of Gabriella's neck, inhaling her coconut scent once more, his body shaking slightly with sobs as he felt cold water splashing onto the side of his face from above him as well, her tears mingling with his own as they fell down his face, her warm hands cradling his body to her, one placed on the side of his face, the other wrapped tightly around his torso.

Pulling away from the brunette, he swiped at his now crimson eyes, desperately trying to wipe away the tears, and watched as Gabriella herself crumbled, her hands covering her face as she bent at the waist, resting her covered face on her lap, her feet still in the water as she wracked with sobs. Gently, Troy placed a hand on the small of her back and started to run it up to her shoulder blades and back, calming the both of them as she shivered at his touch, and her tears slowly stopped.

Sitting up slowly, Gabriella sniffed once more as she and Troy stared at each other. Tenderly, Troy reached out and wiped away the remaining tear on her face, cradling her face as he did so, smiling softly and rubbing her cheek soothingly when she leant into his hand, her eyes fluttering softly closed.

"It wasn't my choice Troy," Gabriella murmured, her eyes flickering open once more, "It was the disease," pulling away from him, she glanced back to where everyone else was still laughing and generally having a good time, "None of them noticed, hell, I would have never noticed if I hadn't still had to go to the doctors for check-ups, and I still didn't believe him even when it became obvious."

Troy looked at her confused, "Ella, what are you… what disease?" He questioned, gripping her chin and forcing her to look at him once more, their eyes immediately locking as they stared at each other intently.

"I had severe post natal depression Troy," Gabriella muttered softly, tearing away from his gaze once more, "It got so bad over the first six and a half months after Lilly-Ella was born that I considered suicide more times than I thought would be possible," Troy inhaled sharply, as Gabriella closed her eyes painfully, "I overdosed at one point when she would have been five months old, Sharpay found me and rushed me to the hospital, I would be dead now if it weren't for her," Gabriella whispered softly, "She just thought I was depressed," A ghost of a smile flickered over Gabriella's face as Troy still watched on, horrified, "She also thought that I got over it during that short stint in hospital, and therefore didn't tell anybody," Gabriella sighed, raking her hand through her long curls, "I didn't though, not by a long shot, my Mom obviously knew exactly what it was, she told me that I was a stupid bitch for getting myself knocked up in the first place, and that if I was going to bring shame upon the Montez name for trying to kill myself, she wanted nothing more to do with it. Last I heard, she had run off to somewhere in Europe with a guy half her own age," Shivering slightly, Gabriella wrapped her arms tightly around herself, "From there though, it only got worse. For the first six and a half months after Lilly-Ella was born, all I did was curse the two of you, I felt so detached from her that I told myself that she wasn't even my kid somehow," Gabriella looked disgusted in herself as she shivered once more, smiling gratefully at Troy as he slipped his jacket around her shoulders, his eyes raking over her in concern, before he took hold of her hand and squeezed it, reassuring her that she could go on and he would listen to what she was saying, "I was always crying over those months, and I had raging mood swings, worse than I've experienced before or since then, it took me at least eighteen months to get over my depression, although I'd say that it was at least two years before I was completely back to normal. I'm so sorry Troy, I really am, but I am eternally grateful to you for taking her and going, I would have only hurt the three of us more in the long run if you had stayed, and I'm so sorry, G-d you wouldn't believe how sorry I am."

Troy shook his head in awe, "Gabriella, don't, please don't be sorry, I should have known something was wrong, I should have stayed around to make sure that you got all of the help that you needed, I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that alone, G-d, I think that we were both so naïve and stupid at that point, I just don't think that we realised it, but thinking about it now, when we had Lilly-Ella, it would be like her getting pregnant next year."

"Oh, please don't say something like that," Gabriella muttered, squeezing her eyes tightly shut and turning slightly green, "I don't want her going through the hell that we've been through, I mean G-d I love her now, and I have done for the past fourteen years, and to be honest, deep down, I know that I loved her for the first two years of her life to, I was just too sick to realise it, but please don't bring up her getting pregnant now, it's a truly terrifying thought."

"Yeah, I agree," Troy murmured, "I mean she's still my baby girl, our baby girl," He corrected with a quirky grin as Gabriella blushed slightly, "I guess now I'm starting to see what my parents and your Mom went through, but no offence, your Mom was still a complete bitch, especially treating you like that when you were ill Ella."

Gabriella laughed humourlessly, "Believe me, none taken, she was awful."

"Yeah, well she never liked me anyway," Troy huffed, folding his arms across his chest and pouting as Gabriella started to giggle, "Oh is that funny Miss Montez?" He grinned, unfolding his arms slightly.

"Uh-huh," Gabriella giggled, "What did you expect? You corrupted her precious baby girl, who was destined for Stanford, I actually found something that mattered to me more than my grades did, and then you knocked me up, bringing horror and disgrace to us, G-d I swear it was like she lived in the flipping thirties."

"Aah, what can I say?" Troy beamed his pearly whites at her, "Daddy's little girl needed corrupting and your innocence was always a turn on for me, actually thinking about it, it was no wonder that you wound up knocked up," Troy frowned jokingly, grinning at the blush that passed over Gabriella's features.

"Troy Bolton!" She squealed, her cheeks stained red from embarrassment as he just laughed, reaching down and splashing the water from the pool at her, as she shrieked once more and splashed him back, the two starting an all out war, laughing like they hadn't in years, unknowingly edging closer together.

Suddenly, everything was going in slow motion. Troy cautiously reached out and tucked one of Gabriella's now wet curls behind her ear, sipping his hand round and cupping the back of her neck as she blinked owlishly up at him. Slowly, they both started to lean towards each other, their lips connecting tenderly, and moving instantaneously against each other in an all too familiar pattern, Troy gently dragging his tongue along her bottom lip as she gradually opened her mouth, allowing his tongue to start caressing hers, her sweet strawberry taste flooding his senses as his memorable mint chocolate taste flooded hers. Troy placed his other hand on her waist, pulling her closer to him as her arms slipped up around his neck, her fingers playing with the soft ends of his shaggy hair, curling it gently.

Hearing a gasp behind them, the pair instantly sprang apart, turning scarlet as they saw Lilly-Ella pull Sassy behind one of the large bushes in the garden, one hand clamped firmly around the blondes mouth.

Turning back to one another, they slowly moved apart, Gabriella chewing on her bottom lip, whereas Troy was scratching the back of his neck, both of them smiling as they recognised each others nervous habits.

"Ummm, we should probably head back inside," Troy muttered, and Gabriella nodded, grabbing his hand as he offered it and pulled her up, releasing her hand straight away as they each turned red once more, "Look Ella, we need to talk about what happened just there, and we still have sixteen years of baggage which can't just disappear."

"I know that Troy," Gabriella whispered, "Believe me I know that," She nodded slightly, her eyes wide and staring at the ground as she glanced upwards, tucking her hair behind her ears once more, "But I think it's too late to go into all that now, we should wait until tomorrow."

"I agree," Troy murmured, watching the brunette as she shuffled uncomfortably under his gaze, "But I think that you should stay here tonight Ella," Gabriella's head snapped up to look at him, and instantly, she could tell he was serious, and opened her mouth to say something, "Everyone else will be staying here, and I'm sure that Sassy won't mind sharing Lilly-Ella's room tonight, or vice versa," His eyes automatically slid over to the bush that the two young girls had disappeared behind, a slight shuffling and hushed whispering coming from it, before sliding his eyes back over to Gabriella's once more, "And I don't particularly want you driving home alone at this time, like you said, it's late, and umm, I don't want anything to happen to you," Troy blushed lightly, watching Gabriella's facial features soften as he admitted his last point for making her stay.

"Okay Bolton, you've got your wish," She sighed softly, and he turned, walking back towards the house, a triumphant smile on his face. Sighing softly once more, she turned to follow him, looking quickly at the bush as she did so, laughing quietly as she saw Sassy stood there, a massive grin on her face, one hand giving her a thumbs up, before the blonde girl was pulled backwards with a shriek once more, and Lilly-Ella's face appeared momentarily, smiling and waving sheepishly at her Mom, turning back once more to Sassy, as Gabriella chuckled softly and followed her old flame back into his house…

**Well, that was Chapter 15, I hope you guys liked it, and I know that it's my personal favourite of this story so far as it has the most Troyella in it, anyway, please review and tell me what you thought of it!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Mistakes**

**Hey everyone, I am so so so so sorry with the lack of updates on this story, it's been really really bad, but between work, school and being ill I've had like no spare time on my hands to do anything! I know I promised regular updates back in April, but hopefully now school has cooled down a little, I will be able to get this story finished, it only has a few more chapters to go anyway. Anyway on a more positive note, I want to say thanks so much to all of you that reviewed the last chapter, and I hope that you enjoy and review this one!**

_"I agree," Troy murmured, watching the brunette as she shuffled uncomfortably under his gaze, "But I think that you should stay here tonight Ella," Gabriella's head snapped up to look at him, and instantly, she could tell he was serious, and opened her mouth to say something, "Everyone else will be staying here, and I'm sure that Sassy won't mind sharing Lilly-Ella's room tonight, or vice versa," His eyes automatically slid over to the bush that the two young girls had disappeared behind, a slight shuffling and hushed whispering coming from it, before sliding his eyes back over to Gabriella's once more, "And I don't particularly want you driving home alone at this time, like you said, it's late, and umm, I don't want anything to happen to you," Troy blushed lightly, watching Gabriella's facial features soften as he admitted his last point for making her stay._

"_Okay Bolton, you've got your wish," She sighed softly, and he turned, walking back towards the house, a triumphant smile on his face. Sighing softly once more, she turned to follow him, looking quickly at the bush as she did so, laughing quietly as she saw Sassy stood there, a massive grin on her face, one hand giving her a thumbs up, before the blonde girl was pulled backwards with a shriek once more, and Lilly-Ella's face appeared momentarily, smiling and waving sheepishly at her Mom, turning back once more to Sassy, as Gabriella chuckled softly and followed her old flame back into his house…_

Eyes flickering open the following morning, Gabriella let loose a small shriek as two ice blue eyes stared into her own chocolate ones. A tiny giggling noise from the doorway distracted the brunette momentarily, and she lifted her head to gaze at the figure stood there. Letting her eyes focus slightly, Gabriella couldn't help the smile that tweaked at the corners of her mouth as she watched her daughter, doubled over with laughter.

"Come on Oreo. Come here boy," Lilly-Ella called lightly, still laughing quietly. The husky puppy glanced once more at Gabriella, before bounding down from the bed to meet his owner. Bending down slightly, Lilly-Ella gently stroked the dogs' glossy fur. "Go find Matt, Oreo, he's going for a run, and he wants to take you with him," pausing for a minute, she took the dogs' face in her hands, laughing slightly as he let off an excited bark, "G-d alone knows why though, pup." Patting Oreo once more, she allowed him to sprint past her, pulling a skid around the corner, where he crashed into the table. Shaking it off quickly, Oreo dashed for the stairs, where Matt was now calling for him.

Chuckling, Lilly-Ella skipped across the room and fell onto the bed beside Gabriella. Quickly, she crawled up the duvet until Gabriella could wrap her arms around her daughter, pulling Lilly-Ella's back tightly against her chest.

"Sorry about Oreo," Lilly-Ella smiled, tilting her head backwards to look at her grinning mother. "He's just so used to waking me up by licking my face."

Laughing at Lilly-Ella's scrunched up face, Gabriella gently brushed the young girls' hair out of her eyes and studied her daughters' distinct features. "It's fine, Hollywood," Gabriella grinned, holding her daughter tightly to her. "You looked anymore into that drama school?"

Sighing gently, Lilly-Ella turned so that she was facing her mother. "I don't know Mom," she whispered timidly, terror shining in her eyes. "I mean, I love singing, dancing and acting, but I don't know whether or not I can do it in front of a big group of people." Glancing back up at Gabriella, her cyan orbs caught on Gabriella's loving chocolate brown ones. Smiling sympathetically at her daughter, Gabriella gently reached out and cupped Lilly-Ella's cheek. Her smile widened as the teenager's eyes fluttered closed at the contact and she leaned into Gabriella's hand.

"Honey, I used to have the same fear, but do you know what got me over it?" Lilly-Ella's eyes shot open to look at Gabriella once more, slowly, she shook her head, eyes wide. "Your Dad," Gabriella muttered simply, still watching Lilly-Ella closely.

"Daddy performed in front of people?" Lilly-Ella questioned softly, confusion flickering in her sapphire eyes, her sweat pants rolling up at the side and her curls falling further from their bun.

Gabriella's amusement grew as a mischievous twinkle grew in her eye, "He's never showed you the DVD has he?"

"There's a DVD of Dad singing and acting?" Lilly-Ella grinned, automatically loving where this conversation was heading.

"And dancing," Gabriella smirked, her smirk only growing as Lilly-Ella started laughing. "Actually, I think that it's still in my bag, I only got a copy back from Sharpay a few days ago."

Gabriella watched on in delight as Lilly-Ella vaulted from the bed. Sprinting across the room, the sixteen year old instantly picked up her mother's bag and started routing through it.

"This one?" Lilly-Ella questioned, holding up a white case. A triumphant grin spread across her face, and she leapt over the sofa to put the DVD in the player. Glancing over her shoulder at Gabriella, she grinned softly, hitting the play button, before diving back onto the bed and snuggling into her mother.

Partway through the final song in the show, 'Breaking Free', the door to the bedroom swung open to reveal Troy, his happy face turning to a look of horror as he watched the final notes of the song. "Please tell me that you two didn't just watch that musical," He managed to squeak out, one glance at a smirking Lilly-Ella confirming his suspicions instantly. Glancing between the DVD player and his daughter, the plate of pancakes in his hand was suddenly forgotten, as both of them lunging for the DVD player, Gabriella laughing hysterically on the bed.

"No, no, Daddy!" Lilly-Ella screamed, Troy catching her around the waist and starting to tickle her before throwing his still squirming daughter over his shoulder, grabbing the DVD from the player. Swiftly, he spun around to find Gabriella now stood in the corner of the room. "This is so all your fault, Ella!" He grinned, laughing slightly.

"I'm quite sure that I don't have a clue what you're talking about, Mr. Bolton," Gabriella replied, an innocent beam smothering her face. Troy's face scrunched up at her use of 'Mr. Bolton', and Lilly-Ella had swivelled her body slightly, so that she could watch the interaction between her parents, a smile lodged across her face. "Oh, and I also wouldn't destroy that, because I have like five other copies anyway." Sending Troy a final smile, Gabriella turned and skipped from the room.

Chuckling slightly, Troy shook his head, "Right Ella, after all of the years of knowing you, do you really think I'm going to let you get away that easily? Hold on tight Lila," he directed quickly to his daughter, started the sprint out of the teenagers' bedroom.

Both Lilly-Ella and Gabriella screeched as Troy tore down the stairs after his ex-girlfriend, both of them giggling through their screams. Heads started to pop out of doors all along the corridor Troy was currently chasing Gabriella along. With one look at them, the girls immediately started squealing, whereas Chad and Ryan only laughed, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads.

Catching up to Gabriella in the kitchen, Troy found her stood on the other side of the island, holding onto a can of whipped cream. "You wouldn't dare," He muttered, his eyes narrowing as he watched the brunette that he longed so much for.

"Wouldn't dare what? What's she got?" An enquiring voice asked as Lilly-Ella thrashed around in Troy's arms, desperately trying to find out what was going on behind her back. Looking up, she saw the smirking faces of all of the gang and Sassy stood in the doorway, only increasing to her panic as she started to thrash once more.

"Just try me Bolton!" Gabriella threatened, her own eyes narrowing as she took in how good her ex-boyfriend still looked, eyes twinkling and a smirk curved up onto his lips, there was no doubt at all in her heart, she was falling for him. All over again. Hard.

"No, no, let's not try anything! Nothing at all, I'm warning you two!" Lilly-Ella screamed, an instant role reversal happening between her and her parents, although she still couldn't see what was going on. "Mom, Dad, I mean it! Don't make me have to yell some more." The gang were still stood in the doorway, laughter flowing through the house as Troy and Gabriella continued to tease each other, with Lilly-Ella screaming all along. Suddenly, Troy started to move around the edge of the island, causing an instant reaction from Gabriella as she squirted the cream. Troy, however, was too fast for her and the cream missed him, instead hitting Lilly-Ella on the leg. "Oh my G-d, that was flipping cold. What the hell was that?"

"Lilly-Ella!" Both Troy and Gabriella scolded at the same time, looking at each other in surprise and laughing. Troy tried to use the distraction to once more advance towards Gabriella, she however had other ideas. Flinging the back door open, Gabriella hurtled into the garden, her bare feet hitting the cushioned grass and allowing her to fly through the garden, Troy, still with Lilly-Ella, hot on her heels.

Within minutes, Troy had caught up to Gabriella, and almost without thinking, he grabbed her around the waist, spinning the two girls around as they screamed with laughter. Seeing his next target, Troy ran straight through the sprinklers and dived into the pool, both girls cursing him as he jumped in.

Surfacing, both Gabriella and Lilly-Ella spat the water out of their mouths and turned to glare at Troy, who just grinned impishly. "Oops," He smiled, shrugging slightly, "I'll go get you guys some towels." Hopping out the water, he instantly dashed for the house, eager to avoid a scolding from his daughter and ex-girlfriend.

Looking at each other, the girls laughed slightly, "Yeah, like towels are going to help right now," Lilly-Ella chuckled, heaving herself out of the water and ringing out her dripping hair. "I swear if these clothes are ruined, I will kill him."

"Yeah but then you won't have a Dad," Gabriella grinned, standing next to her daughter and repeating her actions as they moved to sit on the sun lounger's placed beside the pool.

"Yeah, but I got a Mommy now," Lilly-Ella beamed, batting her eyelids as Troy returned with the navy blue towels, handing them to the two sat down before standing a safe distance back.

"Nice to see that I've been replaced so easily," Troy muttered dryly, folding his arms across his now dry chest in his fresh t-shirt and pouting slightly.

"Aww, Daddy, no one could ever, ever replace you, you'll always be my number one, you know that right?" Lilly-Ella smiled, tilting her head slightly as she watched Troy nod. Standing up, she glanced at Gabriella, who caught on quickly and covered her mouth, disguising a laugh with a cough. Wrapping her arms around Troy in a hug, he sighed when he realised that he was instantly wet once more, figuring that his daughter had had her revenge though, Troy ruffled her hair once and took a step back. "Perfect," Lilly-Ella grinned coyly, the look of confusion on Troy's face setting the girls' off once more, "Now!" She yelled and she and Gabriella lunged forwards, directly pushing Troy back into the pool, before running away giggling towards the house.

Climbing out of the pool laughing, Troy followed the pair of them back to house, preparing to get changed once more and swearing that he would get his revenge against them soon enough.

"Well, I'm going to have to go home and get a spare change of clothes now," Gabriella announced as Troy entered the front room in yet another fresh set of clothes, laughing.

"Can I come too Mom?" Lilly-Ella questioned, "Ooh, and can we get you a few changes of clothes so that you can stay a few days, please, please, please," Lilly-Ella pleaded tearing her eyes away from the Wii game that Chad and Sassy were playing long enough to give both of her parents a puppy dog look, complete with quivering lip.

"I think that sound like a great idea," Troy chuckled, noticing Gabriella's wide eyed stare, "It'll give the two of you a chance to get to know each other better, and we can reconnect Ella," Troy grinned, his eyes twinkling again, dazzling Gabriella into agreeing instantaneously.

"Alright then Hollywood, let's go," Gabriella laughed, grabbing Troy's car keys and heading out of the house before he had a chance to protest, Lilly-Ella following rapidly after her.

"This is where you live?" Lilly-Ella whispered in awe as they pulled up to a quaint little cottage with a red door and brightly coloured flowers littering the garden and the windowpanes.

"Yeah," Gabriella smiled softly, "It's not much really, but it is most definitely home." She shrugged slightly, walking up the little pathway to the front door, digging a small golden key from her pocket and inserting it into the lock.

Behind her, Lilly-Ella shook her head vigorously, "Not much? I absolutely love it! Truthfully, I wish that Dad would sometimes want a smaller house, don't get me wrong, I mean I love ours and our old one always made for a great game of hide and seek when I was a kid, but at the same time, big houses can be scary at night. Especially when there's only two of you and a puppy that doesn't provide much of a guard dog."

Chuckling slightly, Gabriella let Lilly-Ella take in her surroundings, her eyes flickering over all of the pictures hanging on the wall, taking in pictures of Gabriella as a child, intimate portraits of Troy and Gabriella, often when they didn't know they were being taken, right up to present day. Closing the day softly, Gabriella walked over to look at the picture that had her daughter entranced.

Troy was sat on the edge of a pier, dangling Gabriella over as she screamed with laughter, the picture obviously having been taken by someone on the lake, the looks on both of their faces showing pure enjoyment and fun. Troy was watching Gabriella with great love and adoration as he held over the edge, obviously never going to have dropped her in a million years, neither of them looking at the camera.

"I've never seen that look on Dad's face before," Lilly-Ella whispered, her fingers slowly tracing the happy faces of both of her parents, Gabriella watching her curiously. "I mean I have, but not until today. He still loves you, you know, he still loves you more than anything in this world Gabriella, and that includes me, one of the reasons he loves me so much is because I basically am you." Wiping her eyes gently, Lilly-Ella looked away from her Mom, only to have her face gently guided back to look at Gabriella.

"That is in no way, shape or form true Lilly-Ella," Gabriella whispered, lightly stroking her daughters' cheek, drying away her tears, "Your Dad loves you because you are you, not because you are me, yes we are very similar, but you have so much of your Dad in you too baby girl, never forget that, and on top of that, you have these little, amazing quirks of your own, which G-d knows where you got them from and where exactly did Mom go to, Missy?" Gabriella laughed softly.

"I love you Mommy," Lilly-Ella whispered softly, hugging Gabriella tightly.

Placing a soft kiss on Lilly-Ella's head, Gabriella gently rubbed her back, "I love you too Hollywood, always." Pulling back, Gabriella gazed at her almost fully grown daughter, carefully taking the picture frame from her and taking the photo from it, handing the photograph back to her wide eyed, stammering daughter, "Keep it Hollywood, but you better keep it safe, because it is one of my favourites and I know where you live if it gets damaged."

Lilly-Ella glanced quickly once more at the photogrpah, she then looked back to Gabriella, beaming, "Thank you Mom."

"No problemo Angel," Gabriella grinned, "But we better get moving before they send out a search party for us." Both women laughed, starting to climb the stairs, Lilly-Ella continuously asking about the various pictures on the way passed them. Halfway up the stairs, a ringing sounded throughout the house, signalling a visitor. Smiling at Lilly-Ella, Gabriella turned back around, "Just go get out what you think I'll need Hollywood, and I'll join you once I've seen who this is, my duffle bag is under my bed." Nodding, Lilly-Ella ran up the rest of the stairs, entering the only room at the top of the stairs, as Gabriella headed for the door.

"Gabriella dear, I can't believe it's been so long, darling," Maria Montez stormed into her daughters' house, immediately pulling the stunned Gabriella into her arms. Struggling against the death grip that Maria held, Gabriella eventually pulled away, glaring at her mother. "Well, it's evident that I've been away for a long time," Maria frowned, surveying Gabriella up and down and gently tugging on her cheek, "You're starting to get wrinkles my dear, well no worries, I have an excellent surgeon that I will book you an appointment for, a.s.a.p." Patting Gabriella's cheek, she crashed down into the nearest chair, before thinking better of it and pulling her bag tightly onto her lap once more, her lip curling in disgust at Gabriella's simple home.

"What are you doing here, Mother?" Gabriella questioned frostily, still glaring at the woman who had abandoned her sixteen years before, when she needed her mother the most.

"Oh, sweetheart, it was horrible!" Maria cried out hysterically, instantly on her feet, pacing, once more. Gabriella rubbed her temples gently, a headache beginning to form. "He left me, Gabriella, he left me!" She screamed grabbing hold of her daughter once more.

"Who are you talking about Mother, I haven't seen you in around sixteen years," Gabriella sighed, taking her turn to survey her mother, grimacing when she noted the jewels that decked Maria's extravagant outfit, along with the obvious plastic surgery that had taken place over the years.

"Miguel, Gabriella, Miguel left me!" She wailed, Gabriella's hands instinctively touching her ears. "He said that he had his visa and that…that he didn't need…need me anymore," Maria screeched, causing Gabriella to once more wince, "But all of that was only after he took everything from me. I have nothing left, I bought him everything that he owns, the most expensive clothes, a car, everything that he could have ever wanted!"

"Well, it serves you right then doesn't it?" Gabriella asked sharply, her glare returning.

Maria pulled back from her daughter and raised her hand, harshly slapping Gabriella across the face. Raising a hand to her stinging cheek, Gabriella looked up to her Mother, tears forming in her eyes as the fire returned to Maria's. "Don't you ever dare speak to me that way Gabriella Anne Montez! After everything that I have sacrificed for you over the years, everything that I have ever done for you!" Maria roared.

Gabriella nodded swiftly, quick to agree with her Mother, once more becoming subjective to the thoughts of her Mother. Sat on the stairs just outside of the door, the youngest brunette had her hand covering her mouth in shock, horrified that Gabriella would ever let Maria talk to her and treat her with so little respect. Standing, Lilly-Ella steeled herself against the onslaught that she knew was about to happen and raised her hand, striding into the room currently containing her Mom and Grandmother.

**Again, I'm really sorry for the wait in this chapter, but I swear the next one will be up within the next week at the latest. I hope that you liked this chapter and please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Mistakes**

**Chapter 17**

Lilly-Ella walked slowly into the room; her eyes fixated on her mother, never straying to the questioning gaze of Maria Montez. "Are you okay Mom?" Lilly-Ella questioned quietly, and Gabriella managed a weak smile which the young girl could instantly tell was fake.

"Gabriella, why are you letting some little thing in your house?" Maria Montez enquired, her nose turned up in disgust as she studied the teenager, "And even more so, why are you letting her call you Mom? You have no children!" Gabriella winced slightly as Lilly-Ella's blazing ocean coloured eyes swivelled swiftly away from her, glaring directly at her grandmother. A loud gasp emanated around the room, Maria's hand springing up over her mouth as she gazed into the icy blue eyes, Gabriella watching her mother and daughter closely. "Those eyes," Maria whispered, holding a hand up to Lilly-Ella's face, "You have eyes just like your father."

Lilly-Ella flinched away from the older woman, continuing to glare at her as she moved towards her mother, grasping hold of Gabriella's hand tightly. "Yeah, I do have my father's eyes, I also have his will, his determination, and his severe hatred for you!" Lilly-Ella spat out, still frowning at her grandmother.

Turning to Gabriella, Maria's eyes started to water. "Darling, why didn't you tell me? Me, your own mother." Both younger women looked at Maria as if she had finally lost it as she continued on her speech, moving steadily towards them. "Why did you never tell me that you were pregnant, sweetheart?" Gabriella's mouth dropped open in shock, and Lilly-Ella's glare on Maria only increased.

"She did tell you and you know she did!" Lilly-Ella roared, staring at the older woman who did not even cringe slightly. "You were the one who helped her to become convinced that she didn't need me or my father, that we were ruining her life! You took advantage of your child when she was incredibly ill, a time when you should have been there to help her, not to abandon her."

"Little girl, I assure you that whatever she has told you are lies," Maria murmured, moving a strand of hair away from Lilly-Ella's face, the girl's hand instantly slapping the older woman's one away from her. "Gabriella may be my little girl, but as you said yourself, she is a very sick woman, she has battled mental problems for years, ever since her father died. She never told me anything about you, or about herself and Troy ever breaking up, all I ever figured was that it was due to college problems, as in they were going to completely different states."

Gabriella's mouth dropped even further, and if it were possible, Lilly-Ella's face turned a deeper shade of scarlet as her fury threatened to bubble over. Feeling a tender squeeze on her hand, Lilly-Ella looked to her right, only to find herself gazing into the depths of Gabriella's chocolate orbs. "If your Dad has ever taught you one thing about my side of the family Lilly-Ella, it is not to trust anything that my Mother says."

Nodding, Lily-Ella held Gabriella's stare, "Yeah, he's always said that he wasn't ever sure if she were human or a creature from the depths of hell."

Snorting slightly, Gabriella nodded, noticing from the corner of her eye Maria's fist clench in anger. "Well then, I don't want you to listen to a word that comes out of her mouth, and instead, I want you to go and gather the things which you have already packed, and then we'll head back to you house, to see your Dad once more."

Lilly-Ella nodded slowly, cautiously glancing towards Maria, her eyes almost doubling in size when she saw the slight smirk forming on her lips. "But Mom…"

"Lilly-Ella go now," Gabriella muttered sharply, her focus firmly on her daughter. Nodding once more, Lilly-Ella slowly headed for the door and back up the stairs. Turning to her mother, Gabriella's glare mirrored her daughters from a little while earlier, "Didn't know about her, huh? That's definitely a new one."

Storming over to Gabriella, Maria grabbed her two forearms and shook her strongly, "How the hell could you be so stupid? After everything that I ever did for you?"

Wrenching out of her Mother's grasp, Gabriella's glare only intensified further, "Here we go again! Everything you ever did for me, you?" Gabriella laughed bitterly, her gaze unwavering, "You never did anything for me, Daddy did it all, you were always at work, or with Todd." Smirking as she watched Maria's face turn paler, Gabriella felt a small sense of satisfaction start to build. "Oh yeah, I knew about your little love affair, and so did Daddy. After his death you spent all your time with him and I was left to fend for myself. I was thirteen years old! So never ever tell me that you did anything for me," Gabriella hissed furiously.

"Yes, well," Maria glared once more at Gabriella, pursing her lips, "You were always the stupid one, it's no wonder to anyone that you've been a screw up. You always did fall for anything anybody ever told you, and you always, always mae sure that you lapped up all the attention." Gabriella winced, praying that what Maria was saying wasn't true, her head shooting up as her Mother's rant continued, "I mean by G-d, Gabriella, did you honestly believe that that boy ever loved you? To Troy I bet all you were was a girl who would give him whatever he wanted, when he wanted, and all because he said 'I love you," Maria mimicked, and Gabriella felt a stinging sensation rip through her, worse than anything else that her Mother had ever done to her. "You call me out for leaving you all those years ago, well he did the same thing, did he not? Only he was worse than me, he took your helpless baby girl with him, when she needed her mother! And now, now, he's plainly bored of her and looking to dump her back on you, so that he can go live his own life."

Gabriella was shaking furiously, her hands balled into fists, the tears streaming down her face as a million thoughts and insecurities swarmed her head. "No, he's not, Troy's not like that, he loved me, he still loves me, and he loves that little girl up there more than anything in this world."

One raise of an eyebrow from Maria and it was all over, Gabriella crumpled to the floor with heart wrenching sobs, her breathing becoming erratic and her hands covering her face. Smirking slightly, Maria rushed across the small room, grimaced and sunk to her knees, pulling Gabriella into her embrace and slowly stroking her hair, pulling off concerned Mother immaculately, apart from the self-righteous smirk still covering her features.

"Oh you stupid, stupid girl, you believed him again didn't you," feeling Gabriella nod her head, Maria's smirk grew, "Well it's ok darling, Mommy's here now, and I won't let anything happen to you ever, especially not at the hands of that boy."

Sat just outside the room on the stairs, Lilly-Ella could feel her own tears streaming down her face, dripping onto the picture of Troy and Gabriella on the pier from their teenage years as her heart shattered intop a million different pieces. Hearing how sickly sweet Maria was being to Gabriella, she started to silently retch, knowing that any hopes that she had for a family reconciliation would never happen. With the interference of this woman, she, Troy and Gabriella would never get their happily ever after…


	18. Chapter 18

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, I know that I promised regular updates a while back and I am truly sorry for not giving them to you, there are only a few glitches with the final couple of chapters for me to work out though and then I will get them poster asap. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this one and please review!**

**Chapter 18**

"_Oh you stupid, stupid girl, you believed him again didn't you," feeling Gabriella nod her head, Maria's smirk grew, "Well it's ok darling, Mommy's here now, and I won't let anything happen to you ever, especially not at the hands of that boy."_

_Sat just outside the room on the stairs, Lilly-Ella could feel her own tears streaming down her face, dripping onto the picture of Troy and Gabriella on the pier from their teenage years. Hearing how sickly sweet Maria was being to Gabriella, she started to silently retch, knowing that any hopes that she had for a family reconciliation would never happen. With the interference of this woman, she, Troy and Gabriella would never get their happily ever after…_

"Realistically Gabriella, you must do what is best for yourself, and for them," Maria muttered soothingly, stroking Gabriella's hair gently. "Darling, you were never Mother material really were you?" Maria smirked when Gabriella shook her head, "It's unfair to say then that you should take responsibility of your daughter so that Troy can go off and do whatever he likes. The girl needs stability, and she hardly knows you Gabriella, the best thing for her is to stay with her Dad, don't you think?" Once more, Gabriella nodded and Maria's sneer grew. "What do you say that me and you go far away somewhere then? Hmm, we'll take a flight out of this G-d forsaken little town and actually end up somewhere that's worthwhile." Maria scrunched her face in disgust as she once more glanced around Gabriella's modest living room.

"Please don't say that about Albuquerque," Gabriella whispered softly, "It's the one place that has ever felt like home to me, and I would never leave unless I believed that it was the best option for everyone else."

"Of course, my darling, but we are in agreement that the best thing all round is for us to leave this place?" Feeling Gabriella nod once more, Maria pretended once more to embrace her daughter in a loving hug, squirming on the inside. "Don't you believe that it is about time that we get the child home then?"

"Yes, Mother," Gabriella answered robotically, no emotion being conveyed in her voice, her eyes holding a vacant expression.

Lilly-Ella sighed in resentment as she heard the conversation between her mother and her grandmother. The young Latina was figuring out exactly why everyone seemed to hate her grandmother. The older woman seemed to have a certain edge to her that allowed her to manipulate whomever she chose to. Gently pushing open the living room door, Lilly-Ella's eyes widened to see her crying mother being cradled by a smirking Maria. Maria glanced up at the teenager and the look painted on her face told Lilly-Ella that her grandmother believed that she had won once more. However, the young girl had lived the first sixteen years of her life without a mother, and now that she finally had hers, there was no way in hell that she was going to give Gabriella up without a fight.

"Mom," She called out slightly hoarsely, her own voice still tight from her own tears, which had dried tracks onto her face. "I got your bag ready, we can go back to Dad's now."

Gabriella gently pushed Maria away, her gaze trailing up Lilly-Ella as she slowly nodded. "Yes, umm, I really should get you home, Hollywood," Gabriella's eyes flickered all over the room, not once meeting Lilly-Ella's. "But, I think that it's probably best if I spend some time with my Mom and try to catch up with her," Smiling wanly, Gabriella continued to avert her stare from Lilly-Ella, "So we'll drop you off at home, and I'll come and join you later on."

Climbing into the back of her Mom's car, Lilly-Ella ignored the sneering look directed at her from the passenger seat, or the fact that her own Mother appeared to be running on auto-pilot. The young girl couldn't help but try to formulate some king of plan, any plan that would get herself, Gabriella and Troy out of the situation that they were now finding themselves in. The only problem was that the teenager felt herself drawing a blank, doors appeared to be slamming in her face left, right and centre, with no windows appearing anywhere.

"I love you Mom, have fun," Lilly-Ella whispered, leaning forward and pecking Gabriella's cheek as she reached to exit the car. Gabriella herself turned to watch the youngster, feeling a twinge of hopelessness in the pit of her stomach. She observed her daughter flounce up the steps to the Bolton household, for what she feared would be the last time ever. Seeing Lilly-Ella turn to wave one last time, Gabriella through a glance at Maria and pressed on the gas pedal reluctantly.

"Dad, Dad!" Lilly-Ella shrieked as she slammed open the door to the house, quickly dropping her bag in the doorway. Racing to the front room, she crashed through that door too, only to find the entire gang watching Troy and Chad battle out a game on the Xbox.

Slamming into Troy's side, Lilly-Ella grabbed the remote and flung it at Ryan, who only just managed to catch it before it reached his face. "Dad, please, you've got to help, please," Lilly-Ella whimpered hysterically, everyone now taking notice of the panicking young woman.

"Lila, sweetheart, what's going on?" Troy questioned, his hands on the side of her face, his cerulean eyes scanning her own petrified ones. "Are you heart? Where's your Mom?"

"This isn't about me!" Lilly-Ella cried, pushing Troy off as she started to pace back and forth across the room. "She's leaving again, Daddy, I'm sure that she's leaving." Collapsing onto the sofa, Matt gently manoeuvred her into his arms, running a soothing hand up and down her back.

"What, what do you mean she's leaving?" Troy murmured, confusion etched into his face, "We just got her back, she promised that we would try to work out our problems. Lila, you've got to have gotten it wrong somehow, there's just no way-"

Lilly-Ella quickly cut Troy off with a shake of her head, "Does the name Maria Montez mean anything to any of you?" She asked quietly, her tears now silent, apart from the occasional hiccup. The gang gasped as memories flooded each of their senses of what that dreadful woman had been like to Gabriella over the years on which they had known her. What plagued all of their minds was the fact that Maria Montez had been missing for sixteen years, so why would she pick now to come back? Why now when Gabriella was finally happy?

"No, it can't be," Sharpay whispered, her hand covering her mouth as she leaned backwards into Zeke. "Gabriella hasn't see or heard from that woman in sixteen years, there is no chance that this was just some fluke."

Lilly-Ella shook her head once more, "No, Mom seemed as stunned to see her as I was. Plus she was whinging on about how some toy boy boyfriend of hers had dumped her after receiving his visa." Lilly-Ella's nose scrunched up and the gang couldn't help but laugh at the information she had just relayed, feeling that in some ways, a messed up version of karma had at least been served. "I think, that it was just some freaky chance coincidence that she turned up now, when Mom is finally getting to know me and Dad again. But I want to save her this time, I'm not prepared to let her got yet," The steely determined look that crossed the young girls face had the whole gang nodding, as all of them relayed the information that they had figured out about Maria Montez whilst knowing Gabriella.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Taylor hollered ten minutes later, causing everyone to look at her as she sat bolt upright at Chad's feet. "I remember Gabriella telling me once that her Mom had a thing for properties, she owns seven worldwide, but couldn't buy anymore after the death of Gabby's Dad, for some reason or another." Taylor's charcoal eyes narrowed deep in thought as everyone watched her expectantly.

"Tay, I hate to be the one to rush you, but we may be running out of time, especially if Maria already booked these plane tickets," Joe mumbled loudly, everyone's eyes swivelling quickly back to Taylor as they realised what appeared to be inevitable by this stage.

"New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Florence, Torremolinos and Barcelona," Taylor listed within a few seconds. "That would be the US, the UK, France, Australia, Italy, Spain and Spain again," Taylor smiled as the blank expressions filling the room were lifted, before everyone's faces darkened once more.

"That doesn't really give us much to got on," Zeke sighed.

"Yeah, they could be anywhere and I don't think that we really have the time to search the whole globe," Chad quipped, his hair bobbing as he nodded.

Sassy was ignoring the bickering going on between the adults, and was instead watching her best friend. Lilly-Ella was shuffling nervously, chewing the inside of her lip as if struggling with an internal debate between right and wrong. "Lilly-Ella, what's going on?" Sassy questioned curiously, capturing everyone's attention as the Latina looked up, her eyes scanning the people surrounding her.

"Is the wrong thing done for the right reason still the wrong thing?" She asked cautiously, baffling all but Troy, who was used to his daughters odd way of questioning things.

Sitting in the floor in front of the young girl, Troy lifted her chin so that she was looking directly into his eyes, "That wholly depends on what you did and whether or not it will help someone, little girl."

Chewing her inside lip, Lilly-Ella resolved her internal battle within that minute. "I swiped Maria's credit card when we were in the car and copied down her details before replacing it, and I know for a fine fact that the security on her companies site is rubbish and I can have all of the details of her recent purchases within a few minutes, and I can also access any government websites that might also be able to slow down any planes that we need to, because quite frankly I managed to break the security with NASA, the FBI and the CIA three and a half months ago," Lilly-Ella let out all in one breath, panting as everyone looked at her with stunned expressions. Matt reached down the side of the sofa and picked up her laptop, handing it to her without a word.

"You do this now Lila, but I swear to G-d when this is all over, you and me are going to have a long talk. Oh, and you are so grounded for at least a month and a half, more than likely longer," Troy muttered, shaking his head in disbelief at his far beyond average daughter.

Within a matter of moments, Lilly-Ella had accessed the database and found to one way tickets heading for Paris had been charged to Maria's credit card less than an hour ago. Looking up the plane times, she had then found that they had only an hour and a half to reach Gabriella before she was headed for a whole new continent.

Digesting this information in minutes, Troy ran from the house, pausing only briefly to slip his shoes on and grab his car keys, Lilly-Ella hot on his heels.

"Well, what do we do now?" Jason questioned, glancing at the group of people who surrounded them, all of which rolled their eyes as his wife reached over to smack the back of his head.

"You are kidding right?" Sassy yelled, "We're going to follow them, so lets get in the car and see how this all plays out!" Noticing that everyone was simply staring at her, the blonde rolled her eyes once more, "Move it people!"

Sharpay smirked, watching as everyone took orders from the young blonde girl, instantly rushing out of the house and sorting themselves into cars for the race to the airport.

Sitting with Maria on the cold, plastic airport chairs, Gabriella couldn't help but wonder of she was making the second worst mistake of her life to date. Glancing sideways at her mother, watching the older woman thumb through the pages of her magazine without a care in the world. Slowly, the younger of the two women pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them, still in a fairly catatonic state.

Looking at her daughter, Maria rolled her eyes and used the rolled up magazine to hit Gabriella over the head, instantly catching her attention. "Stop moping will you! You look like you've been sentenced to death when you should be thanking you for saving you from whatever form of life you might've lived if you were staying in this awful place." Sniffing obnoxiously, Maria unrolled her magazine and began to read once more, ignoring the sorrow and anger in her daughters' eyes.

"Flight A45879 to Paris, is now boarding, repeat, flight A45879 to Paris is now boarding."

"Ahh, well that appears to be us anyway, let's go Gabriella, I'm rather board of this place now, Paris is much more exciting," Maria smirked, standing and heading for the gate, all but dragging Gabriella with her.

"Gabriella!" Troy yelled, chasing the mother and daughter right up to where security stopped him at the doors that would lead his love out of his life forever. "Please, baby, please don't leave me again," Troy whimpered softly, the tears gathering behind his eyes.

Gabriella sobbed softly, her tears flowing freely as she watched the man that she still loved break for a second time. "I can't, Troy, I'm no good for you, or Lilly-Ella, you're both better off without me." Maria rolled her eyes as she watched Gabriella's eyes roam beyond troy to the crowd gathered behind him, specifically to the couple's daughter. Lilly-Ella was shaking, the tears streaming down her face, wrapped up in Ryan and Matt's arms, her head shaking from side to side softly as she mouthed "no" over and over again. "Live your life, and take care of hers," Gabriella whispered, reaching up and capturing Troy's lips tenderly. Turning slowly, she went to follow the sneering Maria towards the plane that would ultimately remove her from the lives of her one true love and her daughter once more.

"Gabriella!" Troy called out again, and once more she heeded to her loves request to see her once more, her eyes tripling in size at the sight of him on one knee, a ring box clutched securely in hand. "Marry me?"

**That was chapter 18, I hope that you liked it and please review and tell me your reactions to Troy popping the 'big question'. Hopefully the next chapter and then the last one will be up either later this week or next week.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, thanks for your reviews from the last chapter, anyway, here's chapter 19, I hope that you enjoy it. The final chapter will be up in the next few days, but please review this one and tell me what you think!**

**Chapter 19**

Gabriella's dark brown orbs widened in shock as she gazed into the stunning blue eyes man kneeling before her. A quick flicker of her gaze to look at her daughter and everyone else only confirmed her suspicions that this had been a spur of the moment decision to ask her to marry him, where the ring had appeared from, she had no idea.

"I know that we've had a lot of ups and downs, Ella," Troy whispered, holding her stare once more. "But please, don't give up on us now, not when we're this close to being the proper family that we always should have been. Ella, it may have taken me over sixteen years to realise, but I need you, I've always needed you. You hold my heart Ella I love you so much. You and our daughter are my entire world, even after all of this time. Please say that you'll be my wife?"

Gabriella glanced once more at Lilly-Ella and the gang, all of who were now nodding enthusiastically, before capturing Troy's hopeful eyes with hers once again. "Yes," She croaked, tears streaming from her eyes, "I love you too, Troy, always have, always will."

Troy grinned, standing up and lifting Gabriella over the barrier currently separating them, while attempting to place the ring on her finger. "Thinking of leaving me were you?" He asked with a grin and a quirked eyebrow, making her blush. Tenderly, he pulled her securely to him and bent his head, allowing his lips to brush against hers. The electricity zapped through both of their bodies as the kiss became more heated, both of them oblivious to the cheers and screams all around them.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Maria roared, glaring at Troy and Gabriella as they separated. Lilly-Ella flounced quickly over to her connected parents, squashing in between their joint arms. "There is no way that I am going to let you run off with this man and his child, Gabriella! You disgraced the Montez name once by getting pregnant in the first place, I will simply not allow this to happen again!"

"Actually, Mother," Gabriella snarled herself, surprising all of those around her with the venom in her tone. "The only one who has disgraced the Montez name, as you so royally put it, is yourself. You only gained the name through marriage, and considering that you cheated on Daddy right up to his deathbed, you don't deserve to carry the name Montez. I am finally seeing through that and honouring what Dad would have wanted me to do all along. I'm going to stand up for what I believe in, and I am going to live my life to the fullest I can with the love of my life, and my daughter."

Turning her back to her Mother, Gabriella glanced first at her daughter, and then at her fiancée, "Lets go home," She grinned. Taking one final look over her shoulder, Lilly-Ella stuck her tongue out at Maria, before prancing over to Matt's awaiting hand, the two of them and Sassy leading the excitable gang out of the airport. Chatter of weddings was already the recurring theme, as the boys battled it out to see who would get to be best man, with the girls simply laughing at them. Each of them simply ignoring the older woman that was throwing a temper tantrum behind them. The spectacle attracting many people to watch, laugh, point and take photos or videos of her.

**6 months later…**

"Oh G-d, oh G-d, oh G-d," Gabriella gasped, wringing her hands in front of her nervously as she paced around her dressing room. Unable to stop themselves from chuckling softly, her four bridesmaids, Taylor, Kelsi, Sharpay and Sassy quietly watched the distressed young woman.

Stepping back into the room, Lilly-Ella rolled her enormous blue eyes and stomped over the Gabriella, taking tight a hold of her hands. "Mom, would you please stop stressing already?" She questioned, managing to get Gabriella to stay still long enough so as to be able to actually look into her eyes, "I mean this is Dad that we're talking about you marrying here Mom, Dad. You know the one who always manages to gross me out whenever he's around you, you two are like lovesick puppies or something," Lilly-Ella pulled a face as Gabriella laughed softly, "What I'm trying to say is though Mom, you have no reason to panic, Dad loves you for you, not because you're pretending to be someone that you're not or anything like that, so you have nothing to worry about." Smiling reassuringly at Gabriella, Lilly-Ella released her Mom's arms and stepped backwards so that she could study her properly. "Plus, I can't ever remember seeing a more beautiful bride," Lilly-Ella beamed, capturing Gabriella in a tight hug.

"How's your Dad doing anyway kiddo?" Sharpay questioned as Gabriella resumed her pacing, now muttering her vows under her breath.

Rolling her eyes once more at Gabriella, Lilly-Ella sauntered over to the others, giggling as she did so. "Well, if you think Mom's in any kind of state, it's nothing compared to Dad," The others all laughed, watching as Lilly-Ella swatted Taylor's hand away as she attempted to fix a lose strand of the young woman's hair. "Pacing is one thing, but I think that he's already threatened to kill Chad and Uncle Ryan so far for making snide comments and he's now doing exactly what Mom's doing, reciting his vows over and over again."

"I really don't see why the pair of you are freaking out," Sassy muttered, rolling her eyes, "I've only lived with the two of you for six months and I can already see that neither of you will ever let the other go again."

"It's just how they've always been," Kelsi laughed softly, fully ignoring the glare that Gabriella sent her way. "Even in high school they panicked all the time. You should have seen them the first time they tried to say 'I love you' to each other, it was pretty hilarious."

**August 28th 2006**

_"Please just tell me what you do at sleepovers!" Chad whined as he trailed after Taylor and Gabriella in the hallway towards the Lava Springs lobby. The rest of the gang were already waiting for them, all having finished work much earlier. "At least tell me that you have really hot pillow fights?"_

_The two girls glanced at each other before whirling on an unsuspecting Chad, each hitting him over the side of his head as the rest of the gang laughed, having obviously heard what Chad had asked to get himself hit. Chad proceeded to yelp and run to hide behind Troy, hiding from the two girls that he had been irritating all day to find out what their plans for the sleepover were._

_"Hey baby girl," Troy smiled as he shrugged Chad off. He walked to Gabriella and swept her up into his arms as he pressed a kiss to her lips, her giggles ringing out as he repeatedly pulled away and then reattached their lips, before finally pulling away, grinning at her as he rested his forehead against hers. The sound of the other four guys' gagging behind them drew their attention as they both turned around and Gabriella rolled her eyes to find Sharpay, Kelsi and Taylor with sweet expressions on their faces, while the guys' each had their fingers down their throats._

_"Why aren't any of you ever romantic like that?" Sharpay yelled, whirling around on three of the guys'. Ryan meanwhile stepped off to the side, trying to stifle his laughter as Chad, Zeke and Jason each tried to come up with explanations as Taylor and Kelsi also whirled around to glare at them._

_Gabriella felt Troy shake with laughter as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, burying his face into her hair, knowing that the girls' would kill him for laughing at a time like this. Gabriella on the other hand lifted one of her hands from their resting place on top of Troy's and covered her mouth as she tried to avert her eyes from the scene before them. The guys' mouths were flopping open and closed like fish as Ryan joined the laughing couple on the sidelines._

_"Great Bolton, you have to be a romantic, so we get in trouble," Zeke yelled over the heads of the girls'. Troy raised his head from Gabriella's and just grinned at the three of them, watching as all three tried to calm down their infuriated girlfriends'._

_"Fine then," Kelsi huffed. She pulled out of Jason's grasp when he attempted to reach her, and stalked over to Troy, Gabriella and Ryan, the other two hot on her heels, but not before shooting their boyfriends' one last glare first._

_Kelsi smiled at Gabriella and hooked her arm through Gabriella's spare one, as Taylor took hold of Kelsi's other arm and Sharpay took her spare one. "Well then girls', we have a sleepover at Gabby's to attend," Sharpay smiled, the four of them walking out of Lava Springs, heading straight for Sharpay's bright pink car. Only Gabriella looked back over her shoulder to mouth a 'help me' to Troy, and send him a desperate look, to which he just laughed and shook his head, causing her to scowl and stick out her tongue, before climbing in the passenger side of Sharpay's car, with Taylor and Kelsi in the back seats._

_Two and a half hours later, the girls' were all sat around in Gabriella's bedroom, having just finished watching 'The Notebook'. They were currently indulging on the cartons of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream that they had dozens of, along with the masses of other sugary snacks that littered Gabriella's floor. Surrounding them were masses of blankets and pillows, as they struck up light conversation, already dressed in their matching pyjamas that they had bought days earlier at the mall, when Taylor brought up a slightly soar subject, that made Gabriella instantly wince._

_"Briella, don't you ever get tired of being left by yourself when your Mom goes on business trips? I mean, this is like the third one she's been on since we broke up for the summer," Taylor questioned, genuinely concerned about her friend as Gabriella sighed softly and looked the other way._

_"In all honesty?" Gabriella asked, and all three girls nodded their heads. "Yes, I do, but I know that she only does it because it means that the more she goes on now, the more likely she is to be around for the better part of the year, for Christmas and everything. I mean this is going to be her last one for eight and a half months, so I can't really complain," Gabriella looked up and grinned at them then, "and besides, because she feels so guilty for leaving me so much, it means that I get to have you guys around as much as I want, and that she'll pay for as much sugary stuff as we want."_

_"Or maybe she just wanted to get away from you," Sharpay snorted, laughing slightly as Gabriella glared at her playfully._

_"Hey, Miss. Evans, that's not being very nice," Gabriella giggled, hitting her newly formed friend with the first pillow that she picked up off of the floor._

_"Oh, you so did not just do that," Sharpay muttered, her eyes narrowed, as Taylor and Kelsi looked at each other, gulping before diving to hide behind the bed, peeking over the top to see the blonde and the brunette in a staring contest, before quick as lightening, Sharpay reached out and grabbed a nearby pillow, instantly hitting Gabriella over the head with it as both girls squealed, and started a full on pillow war, as Taylor and Kelsi watched in shock from the sidelines, watching as Gabriella jumped up on top of her bed, and hit Sharpay from overhead, before Sharpay jumped up too, and the pillow war resumed._

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Taylor yelled out over the shrieks coming from both girls, making herself visible once more, "What the hell is going on? Have we somehow ended up in Chad's imagination or something?" She questioned seriously, as Kelsi appeared beside her, grinning like a lunatic, and Gabriella and Sharpay hopped down from the bed, still laughing breathlessly._

_"I don't know, it seems like it," Gabriella laughed melodically, "But it was so much fun all at the same time," She grinned at Sharpay, who laughed and nodded her head._

_"I wanna do it again!" Sharpay whined, and Gabriella suddenly smirked, a gleam entering her eyes._

_"What are you thinking G?" Kelsi wondered cautiously, knowing that gleam in Gabriella's eyes all too well._

_"Well, like Taylor just pointed out, this would be something out of Chad's head, so how about we mess with the guys' a little?" Gabriella grinned, and the other three looked hurriedly at each other, before turning eagerly back to Gabriella again. "I was thinking that I could put my camera on like a ten minute delay or something, and by that point, we could be into a full blown pillow fight, and then one of us would just happen to accidentally drop a copy of the picture in one of the guys' house one day, it would drive them mad," Gabriella beamed, and the other three grinned at each other, each grabbing a pillow, as Gabriella ran off to her desk to grab her camera, before setting it up and grinning at the girls'._

_"Ready?" She asked, and the other three laughed._

_"Definitely," Taylor grinned, striking Sharpay over the head as she did so._

_A little while later, and the girls' had completely forgotten about the camera, instead they were just enjoying themselves by having a full on war, laughing hysterically as Sharpay hit Gabriella over the head, the fourth pillow to do so burst, sending even more feathers flying over the laughing girls as they bounced around on Gabriella's bed, each getting a swing in at each other wherever they could._

_Suddenly the sound of twigs snapping and hushed voices from outside stopped the girls' in their tracks, and they all instantly turned around to face the door, clinging to each other with fearful expressions on their faces as they heard a groan from outside and stepped down from the bed._

_"What was that?" Gabriella whispered her eyes wide with fright._

_"I don't know, Gabby, go take a look," Sharpay murmured back, her own chocolate eyes mirroring her friends' as she shoved Gabriella forward._

_"What? No way, we don't know what's out there; I am not risking my life to find out!" Gabriella whisper yelled, as she glared at Sharpay, and moved to stand on the other side of the group of four girls', clutching onto Kelsi's arm as the sound of more twigs snapping came from outside, and all of the girls' froze in place._

_"Well someone's gonna have to go look," Taylor muttered, eyeing up the other three, "We need to know what's out there!"_

_"Well then you go," Kelsi mumbled, pushing Taylor forward, who immediately took another step back, and took a hold of Sharpay's arm tightly once more._

_"What? No way! If anyone should go, it should be Gabriella, because this is her house," Taylor murmured_

_"So not happening," Gabriella whispered back, "And anyway, I'm the youngest, you lot are supposed to protect me!"_

_"I don't wanna die!" Sharpay wailed, as the other three stared at her._

_"Sharpay, stop being such a drama queen, I think that you should do it!" Kelsi snapped._

_"Take that idea and can it Nielson," Sharpay hissed, "I'm the president of the drama club, the entire school needs me. And why exactly can't you do it?"_

_"Because Evans," Kelsi mocked, glaring straight back at Sharpay, "Unless you haven't noticed, I'm the smallest here, with the weakest eyesight, hence the glasses, so I probably wouldn't see whatever it is anyway."_

_"Okay guys, we need to cool it, we can't turn on each other," Taylor whispered, and the others nodded, their gazes softening once more, "What we need is a foolproof way of choosing someone, that gives us all an equal chance. What about a game of rock, paper, scissors, and then whoever loses has to open the door?"_

_The others all nodded, and they stood in a circle, each chanting rock, paper, scissors, and revealing what they had chosen._

_Gabriella glanced around, her smile rapidly turning into a frown when she realised that whereas the other three had picked rock, she had picked scissors, making her the loser, and the one to open the door to whatever was waiting on the other side._

_"Best two out of three," Gabriella whispered apprehensively, smiling innocently up at the trio, before Sharpay turned her around and pushed her towards the balcony doors._

_Cautiously, Gabriella headed towards the balcony doors, turning around to give the girls' a pleading glance, and mumbling curses directed to the three girls' behind her under her breath, and flung open the doors, coming face to face with what had scared the girls' half to death._

_"What the hell are you guys doing out here? You scared the crap out of us!" Gabriella exploded, glaring at the guys with her hand over her thumping heart, the girls stood behind her each with matching glares and holding a book, ready to attack the creeps on the balcony, as the guys withered under the glares and smiled sheepishly at their murderous girlfriends/friends/sister._

_"Umm… well you see… umm," The guys' all stuttered, before each of the girls' leaned in and grabbed the collar of the t-shirt of one of the guys' and hauled them inside the house, Gabriella grabbing two of them, as she looked up at the girls' and smirked, each of them leading their hostage of to another area of the house._

_Smirking, Gabriella reached the kitchen and threw Ryan and Chad onto two of the stools by the breakfast bar, both of who looked terrified at the sight of their little sister pacing up and down in front of them, never having seen her so angry before._

_Ryan stood up and attempted to move towards Gabriella, in an effort to calm her down, but before he had even taken two steps, Gabriella whirled around and glared at him, "Sit down," She snarled._

_"Yes Ma'am," Ryan squeaked, basically falling back onto his stool as Chad started to chuckle, only to be immediately silenced by yet another glare from Gabriella._

_"What the hell were you guys' doing? You scared us half to death," Gabriella screamed at them, and both guys' looked suitably guilty, although neither one opened their mouth to answer Gabriella's question, "Not willing to talk then? Fine, I guess that you guys' want the punishment," Gabriella smirked as they each turned their wide eyes on each other, and she reached into an open draw, pulling out a bright pink, sparkly lip gloss, and heading straight for them, a smirk still covering her features._

_"Oh hell no," Chad shrieked, pulling away from Gabriella as she held is face in between her hands and attempted to put the lip gloss on, Ryan watching with horror etched into his features._

_"Oh come on Chaddykins, its not so bad, now hold still," Gabriella grinned, grabbing Chad's face in her hands again._

_By the time Gabriella's interrogation had finished, the guys' still hadn't answered any of her questions, and looked more hysterical than ever, bright pink glittery lip gloss smeared on their lips, sparkly pink eye liner outlining their eyes, blusher splattered across their cheeks, some of Sharpay's nail varnish covering their nails, and with Chad's hair pulled back into two braids, whereas Ryan's held glittery butterfly clips._

_"My, my, don't we girls' look pretty?" Taylor smirked from the doorway, and both guys' glared at her, as a grinning Gabriella turned around once more, "Gabby we need you out here," Taylor smiled and Gabriella nodded, warning the guys with her eyes not to move a muscle out of place as she followed Taylor from the room, only to find Taylor and Kelsi already waiting for them in the hallway, the sounds of Vanessa Hudgens 'Never Underestimate a Girl' and the movie 'Ghost' floating through the house as Gabriella looked at them questioningly._

_Sharpay shrugged with a sly grin, "Troy's not talking, but let's just say that he'll have a severe aversion from Vanessa Hudgens from now on, I've had that song on repeat for the last two hours during the interrogation."_

_Kelsi grinned as well, "And I'm pretty sure that Zekey boy is pretty much going to hate any chick flicks after this more than he already does, we're currently on our second run through of Ghost."_

_"As for Jason," Taylor smirked, "Well, he's now decked out in a pink halter neck, a mini skirt, some pink sparkly high heeled shoes and has countless jewellery on, but he still isn't talking," Taylor frowned slightly, before grinning back at Gabriella, "But I have to say Brie, I love what you've done to my boyfriend and Ryan."_

_Both Kelsi and Sharpay turned to Gabriella with interest, and she just smirked, "Let's just say that they've become a lot more feminine," she muttered, her eyes twinkling as the girls' all burst into laughter. "Okay, this keeping them apart strategy isn't working and it's already past midnight, so we should get them all back up to my room and work on them together."_

_The girls' all nodded, before rushing off to get their individual charges, heading straight for Gabriella's room, with Gabriella bringing the last to reluctant boys' in and immediately bursting into laughter at the sight before her. The girls' had finally realised that they weren't going to get any information from the guys' by interrogating them, so they had decided that maybe when they saw the state that their friends were in, they would crack then, but it didn't stop the girls' from laughing at the sight of them in the mean time._

_Jason was dressed from head to toe in a mixture of the girls' clothes and jewellery, topped of with a pretty pink bow in his dark hair. Chad and Ryan had obviously had all of their hair and make up taken care of by Gabriella. Zeke was currently rocking back and forth, a blank expression on his face as he muttered something about how the guy was dead, but somehow he was still there, and Troy was pretty much the same, although he kept repeating "Never Underestimate a Girl" over and over again._

_"Okay, we know that we're not going to get any information out of you separately, so now, you're all together again, so does someone want to explain why you needed to give us heart failure?" Sharpay demanded as the boys' all shuffled from foot to foot, each snapping out of their trances and glancing at each other nervously, before Chad finally cracked._

_"Alright, alright, I can't take this anymore! Lover boy here needs to tell Gabriella something, before we all try and kill him," Chad sighed, jabbing a thumb at Troy who turned scarlet under the girls' intense gazes._

_"What is it?" Gabriella asked, her angry eyes immediately looking concerned as she made her way to stand in front of Troy, one hand resting on his arm as she tried to coax him to look at her._

_When he did eventually look at her, Gabriella had to try harder than ever before to suppress the gasp that always seemed to appear on her lips when she looked directly into his eyes, and this time, they showed something which terrified and excited her all at the same time. They showed their usual happiness, friendliness, lust and affection for her, but now a much stronger emotion joined those ones, one that Gabriella could only describe as …love._

_"Umm, Ella," Troy sighed softly, and every eye in the room was on the couple as Troy fearfully reached up to scratch the back of his neck, taking another deep breath, as his eyes caught back onto Gabriella's, and a look of complete seriousness crossed over his features, "Gabriella, I've needed to tell you something for a long time now, so I'm finally just gonna suck it up and do it already, before any of the guys' actually do kill me," Troy smiled slightly at her, and took a hold of one of her hands, as her eyes quickly drifted around the faces of the guys' in the room, who were all grinning, obviously knowing what was to come, "This summer, when we broke up," Sharpay shifted awkwardly on the sidelines, and Zeke wrapped an arm securely around her, smiling at her slightly, "I realised how much I need you, I don't know how I would ever cope without you in my life, those few days were like torture for me Ella, and I want to be the one there with you forever and ever, so I guess, what I'm trying to say is, Gabriella Montez, I-I love you," Troy smiled again at her, his voice breaking from the emotion of it all, as Gabriella looked up at him in shock, her eyes shining with happiness, and her hands still clutched gently in his larger ones._

_Gabriella beamed up at Troy, tears of happiness shining in her eyes, "Yeah well, I've been meaning to tell you something for a long time as well Troy, I need you and I love you more than anyone in this universe."_

_Troy's head snapped up, and his eyes caught on hers once more, surprise shining in them, "You do?"_

_Gabriella giggled and pulled her hands out of his, wrapping them around his neck and tangling them in his hair as she pulled him in for the most passionate kiss the two had ever shared, both of them completely forgetting about their friends, who couldn't help but smile as they watched the young couple from the sidelines._

_"That answer you're question?" Gabriella asked breathlessly, as she finally pulled away from Troy, resting her forehead on his as cerulean and coffee coloured eyes mixed together._

_"G-d I love you," Troy whispered, and Gabriella giggled once more._

_"I know, and I love you too," she murmured back, pulling him in for another love filled kiss._

**Present Day**

The five girls' in the room now couldn't stop laughing the elder ones having just recovered what to them was an amazing memory, whereas the younger two were picturing the events that had been described. Even Gabriella had long forgotten her nerves, creased up in the chair beside her daughter. A knock on the door disturbed their joyful reminiscing as they all grinned at one another. "Come in," Taylor yelled, still chuckling softly.

"It's time," Matt smiled softly, sticking his head around the door, glancing at each of the girls. His eyes were drawn to Lilly-Ella, his breath instantly drained from his lungs as his mouth dropped at her aura of beauty.

"Okay lover boy, we'll be there in a few minutes, get out," Sassy smirked, pushing Matt from the door.

Gabriella had instantly paled once more, but she nodded and stood up straight. "Alright, let's do this, I'm getting married! Finally," She laughed, leading the way out of the door to where the wedding planner was stood waiting for them. Smiling she handed each girl a bouquet of white lilies and red roses, directing them to their partner.

Troy stood nervously at the front of the church, swaying from foot to foot as Ryan, his best man, tried to stop himself from chuckling. Placing a hand on Troy's shoulder, Ryan nodded towards the entrance to the church as the music changed softly.

The bridal procession began with Taylor being escorted down the aisle by the excitable Joe and David, both of who grinned and gave Troy a thumbs up as they moved to stand by his side. Following the three of them were Kelsi, escorted by Jason, Sassy, escorted by Matt and Sharpay, escorted by Zeke.

Troy's expression changed and a soft smile overtook his face as the maid of honour started to slowly walk down the aisle. Just as the other four bridesmaids, Lilly-Ella's hair was pulled back into a loose, twisted bun. Unlike the others though, more of her dark curls had managed to escape the confines of her bun, and were framing her face defiantly. The loose bun allowed her sparkling cerulean eyes to clash with her baby blue dress, again the same as the other bridesmaids. The strapless dress reached just beyond her knees, with the white sash tying the entire outfit together (picture in profile). Sending a stunning smile at Troy, Lilly-Ella took her place beside where his bride would be standing momentarily.

The music changed once more and the whole congregation stood to watch the bride walk down the aisle, at long last. Troy peered over the heads of his family and friends and suddenly found breathing difficult as he watched the most gorgeous woman he knew he would ever see floating down the aisle towards him.

Gabriella felt herself blush as she looked up to meet Troy's amazed sapphire eyes. Her hair was pulled away from her face with two diamond studded barrettes, her long curls tumbling down past her shoulders. The dress which she had finally found to be the one framed her figure magnificently and Gabriella herself felt as though she were on cloud nine. The white material of the dress fell away from her body once it reached her hips, but the stunning design didn't stop there. The dress itself was strapless, with a studded design around the top, the dress then went to cross over at her hip, a silver studded brooch like design holding the two pieces of the dress together. Where the overlapping pieces were missing, a flower netted material replaced them. The back of the dress appeared corset like with the white ribbons holding the top part together, while once the dress fell away from her body, it was pinched together in small ruffles in three separate areas (Pictures of the front and the back in profile). To put it lightly, it was what Gabriella had always dreamed of, and now, walking down the aisle with Chad, she felt like a princess.

Reaching Troy after what felt like a lifetime, Gabriella felt herself blush harder as he took her from Chad and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. Handing her bouquet to a grinning Lilly-Ella, Gabriella's beam said it all as she turned back to Troy. Troy himself was watching her with so much love and devotion that it was enough to send anyone reeling.

Troy kept tight hold of Gabriella's hand the entire way through the proceedings, each of them still grinning. Any time that they happened to catch each other's eye however, they would instantly smirk and have to look away before one or the other burst out laughing. On a number of close calls, Troy had winced as Gabriella had dug her nails into the palm of his hand.

The minister smiled at each of them, able to remember Troy from when he was only a tiny baby and he himself had christened him. Gabriella, on the other hand, he had found to be a very inquisitive child when he met her aged fifteen when she and her mother had first moved to Albuquerque in her sophomore year in 2006. Although neither were regular churchgoers, he had watched them grow up within the neighbourhood, and had seen firsthand how they had often lost their way, he was glad to see that they had now found it, together. "And now," He smiled at the people gathered before him, "I believe that these two have written their own personal vows, Gabriella, if you will."

Gabriella took a deep breath and turned towards Troy. "Troy, from the age of fifteen I knew that you were the one for me," She blushed as he grinned at her, "From the moment that the DJ shoved the pair of us on that stage together, I knew that I had met my perfect match. Don't ask me how I knew because that's still something that I'm trying to wrap my head around today. You saved me countless times in those first few years, even when we made what most people would consider to be one of our biggest mistakes at eighteen," her eyes flickered to Lilly-Ella, who looked at the floor and shuffled nervously, "I think that she turned out to be our greatest blessing ever," Gabriella grinned at Lilly-Ella as she raised her head and smiled, softly blushing at Gabriella. "She definitely worked the hardest to bring us back together and if it weren't for the pair of you, I'd be living a pretty miserable existence with my mother, of all people." At the horrified look on Gabriella's face, the gathered family and friends chuckled amongst themselves once more, "As you said to me in the airport Troy, you and Lilly-Ella, you two are my entire world. I love you, it's that simple. I love you so, so much, and I cannot wait to spend my whole life with you." By the end of Gabriella's vows, many of those gathered were openly crying, with most others beaming at the couple.

"Troy," The minister smiled at the blue eyes man who was entranced by the woman of his dreams. "Your vows please."

"Wow, errm, I think that you stole my first few lines from me Ella," Troy grinned as Gabriella's giggles filled the air. "It's true that the first moment that I saw you that I couldn't help but think that you were the most beautiful girl that I had ever, ever seen. I loved watching you grow from that shy little girl that would have rather been anywhere but on that stage into the incredibly talented young woman that forced our entire homeroom to be a part of the senior year musical. Leaving you at eighteen was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do, but knowing that I had a chance to get you back and keep you, there was no way that I was ever going to let you go again. I don't think that you will ever know the pure terror that I felt when Lilly-Ella told me that you were leaving again. I don't think that I truthfully would have survived losing you to your Mother," Troy grinned at her once more, "I love you Ella, you are one of the two reasons that I wake up in the morning, and anyone can call me whipped if they want to, I am and I know that. I love you and I am never ever going to let you go, ever."

"Do you, Gabriella Anne Montez, take Troy Alexander Bolton to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The Minister questioned, turning his gaze to Gabriella with a soft smile.

"I do," Gabriella beamed; her gaze never leaving Troy's shining sapphire eyes.

"And do you, Troy Alexander Bolton, take Gabriella Anne Montez to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The Minister grinned, always happy to watch a happy ending.

"I do," Troy grinned, all of his dreams coming true, his family becoming complete once and for all.

"Well then I now pronounce you husband and wife," The minister beamed, most of the women in the audience crying softly, small smiles filling their faces. The men on the other hand all burst into thunderous applause, the entirety of the gathered people rising to their feet. "You may now kiss the bride."

Undeniable happiness emanated from the happy couple as Troy leant forward and captured Gabriella's lips with his, pulling her into his arms. The pair kissed passionately, but their joyous laughter soon got in the way and they pulled apart to join in the celebrations with their loved ones as Lilly-Ella rushed forward, throwing her arms around both of them.

Hours later, everyone was dancing the night away, celebrating the union of the two newlyweds after all of this time. Troy and Gabriella themselves were deliriously twirling each other around the dance floor, the gang dancing around them, each one of them simply laughing and enjoying their night. When the song stopped however, there was slight interference, before a microphone picked up, in place of where the song should have been.

"Mom, Dad," Lilly-Ella grinned, holding tightly onto Matt's hand with one of her hands and onto the microphone with the other, shaking slightly as she looked at the mass of people in front of you. "I know that you couldn't decide on a wedding song, and so therefore Matt, Sassy and I decided that we would find one for you," Lilly-Ella blushed and giggled softly as the people gathered before her began to laugh. "This probably isn't the most conventional song which anyone would have normally chosen for you both. But we examined the lyrics and I know firsthand what you were like without Mom, Dad, whereas everyone else told us what Mom was like. The song we chose was Broken by Lifehouse. The lyrics fit you both exactly. You fell apart without each other, you both tried to keep yourselves guarded from each other and failed, finding instead that the other was the one who kept you from falling apart. You both knew that barely holding onto each other was better than letting go, because if you let go of one another, you would truly fall apart, once and for all."

Nodding at the DJ, Lilly-Ella handed him the microphone back. The DJ grinned at her before reaching forwards and placing the song which she had requested weeks ago on, the dance floor clearing out apart from the newly wedded couple.

_The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight  
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time  
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts  
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out_

Troy smiled and pulled Gabriella tightly to him, gently swaying and twirling her around the room. Gabriella sighed softly, resting her head on his shoulder and gazing up at her new husband._  
_

_  
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing  
With a broken heart that's still beating  
In the pain, there is healing  
In your name I find meaning  
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on  
I'm barely holdin' on to you_

Feeling Gabriella's eyes on him, Troy glanced down at her. Grinning, he leant his head down and captured her mouth in a sweet kiss, the audience around them laughing and clapping as the couple continued to twirl._  
_

_  
The broken locks were a warning you got inside my head  
I tried my best to be guarded, I'm an open book instead  
I still see your reflection inside of my eyes  
That are looking for a purpose, they're still looking for life  
_

_  
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing  
with a broken heart that's still beating  
In the pain (in the pain), is there healing  
In your name (in your name) I find meaning  
So I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin')  
I'm barely holdin' on to you_

Smiling at his girlfriend watching her parents intently, Matt held out his hand to Lilly-Ella. Glancing between his hand and his face, Lilly-Ella's eyes grew wide and she started to shake her head, mouthing 'no way' at him. Grinning once more, Matt's golden eyes twinkled mischievously as he grabbed Lilly-Ella's hand and all but dragged her onto the awaiting dance floor. Other couples followed momentarily, the dance floor filled with everyone from Taylor and Chad to Troy's parents._  
_

_  
I'm hangin' on another day  
Just to see what you throw my way  
And I'm hanging on to the words you say  
You said that I will be OK_

Seeing Sassy standing on her own on the sidelines of the dance floor, Joe grinned, checked his reflection in a nearby mirror and sauntered over to the blonde, holding out his hand for her. Looking up at Joe, Sassy's emerald eyes widened in surprise before she blushed and took his hand. Lilly-Ella smiled as she spotted her best friend now dancing with the boy she considered to be her brother, both of them laughing and talking away with each other.

_  
The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone  
I may have lost my way now, haven't forgotten my way home  
_

_  
I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing  
with a broken heart that's still beating  
In the pain(In the pain) there is healing  
In your name I find meaning  
So I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'),  
I'm barely holdin' on to you  
_

_  
I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'),  
I'm barely holdin' on to you_

As the song came to an end, Troy grinned at both of his girls. Looking over to see Matt dip his baby girl as she shrieked in protest and he just laughed at her, Troy just shook his head, his attention caught by the beautiful woman in his arms. Seeing Gabriella beam up at him, Troy couldn't help himself and leaned in to capture her mouth with his once more, giving in to the feelings that they both craved as the kiss grew in passion, ignoring the hollering going on around them.

**I hope that you liked the chapter, please review and tell me what you thought of it and the last chapter should be up in the next few days.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Mistakes**

**Hey guys, this is the last chapter of this story, so I hope you like it. I'm really sorry that this took so long to write and get posted, writers block and computer problems have been like a plague this year, anyway, please review and tell me what you thought!**

**Chapter 20**

**1 year later...**

"Where do you think they got into?" Gabriella asked nervously. Her hand was tightly clasped in Troy's as they sat in their living room, with the gang, Joe and David. Together they waited for Lilly-Ella, Sassy and Matt to return from the park, to tell them which schools they been accepted by.

"I have no idea," Troy muttered back, gently running his thumb over Gabriella's knuckles. The whole group let out a collective sigh when the front door burst open, followed by jubilant shouting, as the three teenagers crashed into the room, laughing and clutching their acceptance letters tightly in their hands, their eyes shining.

"We got in!" They all screamed together. They continued laughing as the gang looked on, amusement dancing through all of their features as they watched the ecstatic teenagers.

"Where'd you get in?" Joe yelled, and the three of them just smirked at the impatient twenty two year old.

"Guess," Sassy stated, an irritating smirk covering her features as the three of them tried to hold in their laughter and the group groaned.

"Sassy," Troy whined, believing Sassy to be his daughter now as well. Sassy now lived with the Bolton's full time, unless her parents were home, which was once every five or six months, if she was lucky. Although her parents still sent her money and postcards every month, from wherever in the world they were, and they sent the Bolton's money for her essentials such as food, so Troy was now well aware of the games that she liked to play.

"Fine, just ruin the fun," Sassy sighed, turning her gleaming eyes to Lilly-Ella as the two of them grinned manically. Jumping up at the same time, the girls screamed, "WE got into Julliard!"

Matt meanwhile chuckled slightly at his overexcited friend and girlfriend before saying in a much quieter tone, "And I made NYU thankfully."

Everyone immediately started to cheer and hug the trio. They all offered them congratulations, but the only one Lilly-Ella looked to for approval was Troy, who gave her a watery smile before pulling her in for a tight hug. "It's never gonna be the same without you around here baby girl, but congratulations, I am so proud of you for getting into your dream school."

"Thanks Daddy," She whispered, pulling away and studying his face slightly. She grinned at him before being swiftly attacked into hugs by her 'older brothers' Joe and David, who were pretending to cry hysterically, saying that they were going to miss their 'baby sis', while Lilly-Ella struggled for breath. Troy only managed to roll his eyes as the others all laughed.

Later that evening, the Bolton trio were sat on the back steps of their house, quietly watching the sunset. Lilly-Ella sat in between her parents, her head resting serenely on Troy's shoulder as Gabriella played with the strands of her daughter's dark hair. Each of them were thinking of how different life would be in only a few months. To all of them, the only thing missing in that moment was Sassy. The blonde haired girl had become as much a part of their family as the trio, but had left earlier that evening for a formal dinner with her parents', before she would return to the Bolton's later that night.

"I remember the first time I held you, you know," Troy whispered quietly to Lilly-Ella, gently nudging her. "It was the best day of my life Lila," Smiling, Troy looked up into his baby girl's eyes, his eyes then flowing to those heavenly ones of his wife, sat on his daughter's other side. "Well, one of them anyway," he grinned.

Flashback

The nurse handed Troy a little pink blanket and gently pushed the blanket away from the baby's face. "Congratulations Mr. Bolton, you and your girlfriend have a beautiful baby girl."

Troy wanted to say something, anything, but all he could do was stare at the little pink bundle in his arms. Tears streamed down his face and, as Gabriella dozed in the bed beside him, he just sat watching his baby girl sleep in his arms, her tiny chest raising up and down, and the sounds of her snuffled breathing just about reaching his ears as he held her close to him. He watched her in awe, of course, she'd never been planned, but to Troy, this little pink bundle was his new reason to get up in the morning, a little wonder, and his new little angel.

He smiled gently as he leant forward and kissed her on the forehead gently, his lips lingered for a moment as he took in the softness of her skin, her warmth, and her new baby smell.

End Flashback

Troy's grin widened as he realised that since that day, Lilly-Ella had always been able to get what she wanted with just one look, not that she was rude or obnoxious about it. Nor did she ever really use her powers over Troy for bad, but she was rarely ever in trouble either. Though that was only due to the fact that Troy would take one look at her face and see that of the sleeping angel that he watched for hours at a time when she was only a newborn baby.

Lilly-Ella reached over and gently kissed Troy's cheek, before turning to Gabriella when she asked if Lilly-Ella was coming to help with dinner. Turning to watch the two most important girls in his life wander away, arm in arm and laughing, Troy couldn't help but grin. His little Lilly-Ella, his baby girl was leaving, in only a few short months' time. His Lilly-Ella would be leaving for her dream school, in New York. He was thankful that she would still have Matt and Sassy, of course, but New York, New York, that was a long way away Albuquerque, and from him.

He was actually thankful to the likes of Joe, David, Sassy and, of course, Matt, though. They had given his baby girl the courage to realise that her true passion was acting and singing, regardless of how much she loved basketball and her academics. Troy knew, however, that if they'd stayed in L.A., his daughter would have never even dreamt about heading off to attend a school like Julliard, rather, she probably would have ended up somewhere that she had hated, and would have worried the entire time about fitting in.

A few months later found Troy brooding in the back yard, playing basketball. Gabriella had taken the girls' shopping for last minute college supplies, and Troy was trying to think of a way to get Lilly-Ella to stay in Albuquerque. He never would ruin her dreams, but it scared him that in only a week's time she would be in New York, while he would still be in Albuquerque, miles away from her. Troy bounced the ball harder off of the tarmac on the court, his eyes darkening a shade as he panicked about all of the things that could happen to Lilly-Ella. He had already made both her and Sassy promise that they would call if they ever ran into trouble, and that at least at first, one of them would call every day. Gabriella and the girls' found his worrying entertaining by this point and never ceased teasing him about it though. Sighing softly, Troy shot a basket and ran to collect the ball.

"M-Mr. B-B-Bolton?" a voice stuttered, and Troy looked up, surprised to see a very nervous Matt standing on the edge of the basketball court.

"Hey Matt, what's up? I thought that Lilly-Ella told you, she's not here. She and Gabriella have gone shopping for some things she'll need for college when you guys leave next week." Troy smiled slightly at the one boy that he knew held his daughter's heart close, although he could feel his heart wrenching at the thought of Lilly-Ella leaving for college.

"Oh, I know, I was actually wondering if I could talk to you?" Matt asked, still looking extremely nervous, one hand on the back of his neck as Troy headed off of the court and the two sat on the back porch, looking at each other as Matt fiddled with his hands, raising his golden eyes to meet Troy's cobalt ones.

"Go ahead Matt, I'm not going to bite your head off, and call me Troy already, Sir and Mr. Bolton are my father," Troy chuckled, trying to relax the young man, but if anything, this only turned him paler.

"I'm not so sure at the biting my head of bit," Matt muttered under his breath to himself, before turning to Troy and smiling uncertainly. "Well, umm, you see, uh, Si-Troy, umm, I was wondering if I could talk to you about next week, when we leave, cause umm, there's one thing that I want to do, but I want to do this right, and I know that Lilly-Ella would want me to do this, and I want to do this anyway," Matt babbled, before taking a deep breath to try and regain his breath, and hopefully some courage. Troy watched him, confusion evident on his features. "Well, umm, as you know, Lilly-Ella, Sassy and I, we're leaving next week for New York, so that the girls can go to Julliard, and I can go to NYU, and as you also know, we've got an apartment there together, courtesy of Sassy's family never using it, but umm," Matt trailed off once more, rubbing the back of his neck as he raised his eyes to meet Troy's. "Obviously we don't know how often that we'll get back here to New Mexico, given how much flights are, or how often you guys are gonna be able to get out there, and I don't want to ask her this yet, but I know that I wouldn't want to wait four years for it either, and I wouldn't feel right asking you this over the phone, so umm," Matt took one last deep breath. Closing his eyes softly, he opened them once more, locking them onto Troy's, "Mr. Bolton, I love your daughter so much that I can't even describe it, so I want to ask you if I can ask her to marry me sometime in the future, with your blessing?"

Troy smiled faintly and sighed. "I guess I have to say that I can't say that I didn't see this coming," he smiled a little more. "You two remind me of what Gabriella and I were like in high school. Would you ever leave her? Hurt her? Will you love her forever? Cherish her? Make her happy? Help her to excel in everything that she does?" Troy smile widened even more, as Matt answered 'no sir' and 'yes sir' to the appropriate questions. "Well then Matt, you have my blessing, but if you ever hurt her, I will hurt you so much that you will wish that you had never met her, got that?"

"Yes Sir, thank you Troy, it means a lot to me to have your blessings. And I know that it will to Star Girl as well," Matt muttered, and then grinned at Troy. "But I'd never ever even consider hurting her, and there is no way that you could ever hurt me enough to wish that I'd never met her, she's special, and I'd give my life to save her from anything. She's my one true love, my soul mate, who I can never live without, but if she ever wants to leave me and find happiness with someone else, I won't stop her, just as long as she's happy," Matt shrugged slightly. "I love her, it's as simple as that."

"Good answer Matt, just make sure she's happy," Troy smiled once more at the boy he knew would one day be his son-in-law, and the two headed back onto the basketball court to play until the two loves of their lives returned home from shopping.

Later that night, Troy sighed softly as he made his way up the stairs. His heart was heavy with the feeling that his life that had finally only just gotten itself back together was going to be broken again, with Lilly-Ella's departure for college only one single week away.

He sighed once more as he looked at the door to the room where his wife lay waiting for him to go to bed. Gradually he turned and walked the other way up the corridor, pausing before gently pushing open the door to his daughter's room. Peering in, he smiled when he saw her curled up into a ball, one arm clamped around her two bears, one which Troy had bought her when she was only a baby, and the other which Matt had bought her a little over a year ago. Her other hand was held up to her face, her thumb in her mouth, a picture of innocence to Troy, her sleeping habits only having one change since she was around the age of two, she now had two bears instead of one.

"I love you my little girl," Troy whispered, about to step out of the room when he heard a shuffling and turned around with a beaming smile.

"I love you more Daddy," Lilly-Ella whispered, never once opening her eyes as she rolled over.

A week later Troy stood by the car with Matt, the two men watching the silhouettes of Lilly-Ella, Sassy and Gabriella as they ran around the house, packing the last minute things.

"They do know that we're gonna miss our flight if they don't hurry up right?" Matt questioned, raising his aviators slightly to look at Troy with a kinked eyebrow.

"Yep," Troy muttered, raising his own sunglasses and glancing down at the time on his iphone. Cupping his hands over his mouth, he yelled into the open door of the house, "If you lot aren't ready to go in the next five minutes your gonna miss your flight and I'll just take Matt to the airport instead."

Turning to Matt, Troy couldn't help but chuckle as a fresh round of screams flowed out from the house, followed by pounding feet as Matt winced. "Oh man, would someone please tell me why I agreed to live with two girls' for the next four years of my life?" He moaned softly, and Troy chuckled once more.

"Matthew Thomas Baker, shut your mouth!" Sassy screamed out of the door, sticking her head out momentarily to give him a death glare, before being pulled back inside by Lilly-Ella once more.

"Because you have a death wish," Troy answered, grinning from ear to ear as he replaced his sunglasses, "Four minutes! I'm just thankful that they said goodbye to everyone else yesterday or G-d knows how long this would be taking."

"Thanks man, that's really making me feel confident about living with them," Matt rolled his eyes behind the aviators and grinned at Troy, who only chuckled, turning his attention to the girls' now bouncing down the front steps. Lilly-Ella's white dress swished around her knees as she turned to take in the house one last time, before racing over to Matt and Troy, pulling Matt's aviators off, and settling them over her own sparkling eyes. Matt slung one arm around her shoulder and smiled as Lilly-Ella turned into him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Gabriella and Sassy took the steps down from the house at a slightly slower pace, rechecking Sassy's list of essentials as the younger girl linked arms with Gabriella.

Leaning up, Lilly-Ella started to slowly kiss Matt, a giggle escaping her lips attracting Troy's attention away from his wife as his nose wrinkled up. "Eww, can't you guys at least wait until you're on the plane, and out of my sight before you do that!"

"Personally, I'd rather they get it out of their systems now," Sassy muttered, her nose scrunching up in a similar way to Troy's as everyone laughed, carefully climbing in the car. Troy glanced at Gabriella and grinned slightly, taking hold of her hand and squeezing as she glanced up at him. Looking away, his attention was drawn to the rear view mirror as he drove the car carefully away from the Bolton's, his eyes catching on Lilly-Ella, who had her head resting on Matt's shoulder, talking softly to Sassy, with a peaceful smile on her face.

Standing at the gate in the airport, Gabriella made sure to go through checklists with the three teenagers one more time, before the boarding call for their flight was announced.

Standing slightly to the side, Lilly-Ella grinned as both of her parents each hugged her friends' goodbye, each reciprocating the same message. To Matt, it was to make sure that he took care of both of the girls', along with calling them if he ever needed anything. In return, her parents promised to check in on his grandparents every once in a while. To Sassy, it was for her to remember to call, and that they would always be there if she needed them, and of course, that there would always be a room for her at the Bolton's home.

Then it was up to Lilly-Ella to say her goodbyes, starting with her mother. Gabriella pulled her daughter just out of hearing range of the rest of the group, and proceeded to grab her in a hug. "I love you so, so much my baby girl, you know that right?" Pulling back, Gabriella, placed her hands on the sides of Lilly-Ella's face and studied her carefully, "You've got to promise me that you'll be careful in New York and you know that we're only a phone call away if you need us right?"

Both women had tears streaming down their faces as Lilly-Ella nodded softly, "I promise, and I love you too Mommy, lots and lots. I feel like I've only got you back, and now I'm the one that's leaving."

"Oh baby," Gabriella whispered, pulling her close again and soothingly stroking Lilly-Ella's hair. "You are only going away for college, you'll be back for thanksgiving before you know it, and you know that there's always a place for you with your Dad and me, if you ever want to come back." Lilly-Ella nodded slightly, the tears still streaming as Gabriella pulled her closer, "But between you and me, by the time you come back for next summer, there will be a lot less room in that house."

Lilly-Ella watched as Gabriella's hand unconsciously travelled down to rest on her stomach, the teenager immediately growing excited, "Seriously? Are you kidding me?" She squeaked.

"Nope, you're gonna have to deal with not being the baby of the family anymore sweetheart, because there will be three more, but they will need a big sister to dote on them," Gabriella laughed, and Lilly-Ella squealed, straight away hearing the fact that she was going to have triplet baby brothers' and/or sisters' by the following summer. Pulling Gabriella into a tight hug once more, her squealing attracted the attention of the other three, and a quick shake of Gabriella's head quickly surmised what Lilly-Ella had believed of her father not knowing about the latest additions just yet.

Bouncing over to Troy, Lilly-Ella threw her arms around him, still giddy from the news as the tears clouded her vision once more. "I'm gonna miss you so, so, so much Daddy," She breathed softly, "I love you."

"I love you too baby girl, more than you will ever, ever know," Troy murmured, gently soothing his daughter by rubbing her back. "It's never gonna be the same around here without you, you know that right? It's going to be far too quiet for a start," He teased softly, laughing when Lilly-Ella let out an exaggerated gasp.

Pulling Gabriella into the hug too, Troy clutched his two girls' close to him and just held them there as the final boarding call for the trio's flight was announced and Lilly-Ella pulled back, standing between Matt and Sassy once more.

"Now, are you sure that you've got everything?" Gabriella asked one more time and everyone laughed at her, while she glared, "Fine, but I'm not sending you anything you forgot."

Giving everyone one final hug, the trio headed for the boarding gate, Matt's arms wrapped around the two crying girls', before Matt and Sassy disappeared down the tunnel to take them to the flight. Lilly-Ella turned around one last time, grinning at her parents, and blowing them kisses. Troy held up his hand in a final wave, and she was gone, disappearing after Matt and Sassy into the tunnel.

"Well, it might have taken us eighteen years, countless obstacles and mistakes, but here we are," Troy beamed. Wrapping his arms around Gabriella's shoulders, he pulled her tightly into his side, as she snuggled up against him, inhaling his unique scent. "We're together, finally, married, happy, and sending our only child away to college in a totally different state," sighing, Troy watched his daughter's flight take off, bound for New York. Turning to Gabriella slightly, he raised an eyebrow, "Think we can have another one?"

"Troy Bolton!" Gabriella yelped, jumping away from him and glancing around to make sure that no one else had heard him. Glaring at him, she then proceeded to smack his chest lightly.

"Yes Gabriella Bolton?" Troy questioned, his expression caught somewhere between extreme amusement and faux innocence. Slowly, he leaned down and rested his forehead to hers, examining the cheeky twinkle in her eyes and the blush that stained her cheeks, a serene expression covering her features as she stared just as deeply into his own eyes.

Grinning at him, Gabriella carefully captured his face between her hands. Slowly, she pulled him towards her, placing a long, leisurely kiss on his lips, savouring the feel of his lips against hers and his exclusive taste. "I love you Wildcat."

Eyes twinkling, Troy wrapped an arm around her waist, before tugging her towards the exit. Softly, he blissfully whispered into her hair, "And I love you, my Ella." Unhurriedly, the Bolton's made their way out of the airport, talking and whispering sweet nothings to each other the entire way. Having said goodbye to one child, they were about to start a new chapter in their lives, unbeknownst to Troy, with three new additions, each getting ready to make their stamp in the Bolton family.

**Well that was the final chapter, thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed this story, I am really sorry that it took so long to write. But for the last time on Mistakes, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review.**


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